Rwanda : Last ICTR detainee referred to Rwanda
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has referred to Rwanda, the case of Bernard Munyagishari, a Rwandan genocide suspect, and the only suspect awaiting trial.
The case referral was made this June 7, by the Referral Chamber of ICTR court based in Arusha Tanzania. Munyagishari’s case is the fifth to be referred to Rwanda within the mandate of the ICTR court as it gets ready to close its activities this July.
However, he will be second person to be brought to Kigali after Pastor Jean Bosco Uwinkindi- a former Pentecostal pastor in Kayenzi, Bugesera, who was the first suspect to be transferred from Arusha to Kigali, where he’s awaiting trial since April.
The other three suspects; Fulgence Kayishema, Charles Sikubwabo and Ladislas Ntaganzwa are still at large, but the ICTR prosecutor has handed his Rwandan counterpart their indictments
Munyagishari is the former chairman of the infamous Interahamwe militia in the former Gisenyi Prefecture, now in the Western Province. He was arrested last year in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
He is accused of conspiracy to commit genocide, complicity in genocide, murder and rape as crimes against humanity. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
While other genocide suspects are still on the run, the ICTR –put in place by the UN Security Council in 1995, has managed to complete 72 cases of which 17 are awaiting appeal while 10 have been acquitted.
However, Rwanda’s Prosecutor General, Martin Ngoga, said that the ruling and decision of the tribunal was a “positive development” since a lot of effort has been put in place to ensure the transfer of these cases.
