Arusha, February 7, 2012 (FH) - Kigali on Thursday accused the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) of having double standards, and threatened to throw out Tribunal observers monitoring the trial in Rwanda of Jean Uwinkindi, the first person transferred by the ICTR.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s unacceptable. It\u2019s double standards! If the Tribunal does not appoint observers for the two cases transferred to France, we will expel its observers here,\u201d Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga told Hirondelle.<\/p>\n
At the end of 2007, the ICTR transferred to France the cases of Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a former parish priest in Kigali, and Laurent Bucyibaruta, former prefect of Gikongoro in southern Rwanda.<\/p>\n
Pentecostal pastor Jean Uwinkindi was transferred to Kigali in April 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy must our judicial system be monitored and not that of France, which hasn\u2019t done anything about these cases transferred so long ago? There is no fairness in that,\u201d continued Ngoga.<\/p>\n
The ICTR \u2013 or, after its closure, the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals \u2013 reserve the right to take back a case transferred to a country, if the conditions for a fair trial are not met.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese conditions are met in our country,\u201d Ngoga said. \u201cThey (the judges) recognized this when they authorized transfers to Rwanda. But they can reverse their decision and take back the Uwinkindi case or halt implementation of the other transfer decisions, if that\u2019s what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tribunal officials declined to give an immediate reaction.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ngoga also criticized again Monday\u2019s acquittal by the Appeals Court of two former Rwandan ministers who had been sentenced to 30 years in jail by the lower court.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make sense ! There are so many contradictions between the trial courts and the Appeals Court in several cases,\u201d he said. \u201c Does that mean one chamber is weak and has wrongly convicted people, or that one chamber is weak and has acquitted individuals who are guilty? \u201d<\/p>\n
On Monday the ICTR Appeals Chamber acquitted former Trade Minister Justin Mugenzi and former Public Service Minister Prosper Mugiraneza, and they were immediately released.<\/p>\n
ER\/JC<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arusha, February 7, 2012 (FH) - Kigali on Thursday accused the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) of having double standards, and threatened to throw out Tribunal observers monitoring the trial in Rwanda of Jean Uwinkindi, the first person transferred by the ICTR.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-24714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hirondellenews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n