Prosecutor Files New Applications for Referral of Cases to Rwanda
Source ICTR – The Prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Justice Hassan B. Jallow, on 4 November 2010 filed three new applications for the referral of the cases of three accused persons to Rwanda for trial under Rule 11 bis. The cases are of detainee, Jean-Bosco Uwinkindi, a former Pastor in Charge of Pentecostal Church in Kanzanze commune and the fugitives Fulgence Kayishema, former Inspector Police in Kivumo commune and Charles Sikubwabo, former Bourgmestre of Gishyita, Kibuye Prefecture. In his last report to the Security Council, delivered on 18 June 2010, the Prosecutor informed the Council that he would soon be filing these applications.
Uwinkindi was arrested in Uganda at the end of June 2010. He is charged with the crimes of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and extermination as crime against humanity. The indictment alleges that he committed these crimes in Kigali-Rural Préfecture, between April and July 1994. The attacks, in which Uwinkindi is alleged to have participated, including the massacre at Kayenzi Church, resulted in the deaths of thousands of innocent victims.
The indictment charges Fulgence Kayishema with genocide, or in the alternative, complicity in genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity. The massacres giving rise to his indictment were committed in Kivumu commune, Kibuye Préfecture, during the Rwandan genocide of 1994. It is alleged that he participated in the killing of more than 2000 Tutsi civilians who had sought refuge at the Nyange church. His charges are on the same factual bases as those previously leveled against Seromba, Ndahimana and others who were accused of atrocities in the Kibuye region of Rwanda in 1994.
Charles Sikubwabo faces two indictments issued by the ICTR. In one indictment, he was jointly charged with father and son, Elizaphan Ntakirutimana and Dr. Gérard Ntakirutimana, respectively. Because he remains at large, his trial was separated from that of the Ntakirutimanas, who were subsequently convicted and sentenced. The first indictment charges him with genocide or, in the alternative, complicity in genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, and crimes against humanity in relation to the massacre at the Mugonero Complex, Kibuye Préfecture, where hundreds of Tutsi men, women and children were killed and a large number of others wounded. The second indictment relates to massacres at the Church in Mubuga and in the area of Bisesero, all in Kibuye Préfecture, Rwanda during 1994. The massacres resulted in the deaths of thousands of victims, mainly Tutsis and numerous injuries to men, women and children. The Prosecutor’s application seeks the referral of both his indictments to Rwanda.
This is the second time the Prosecutor files applications for the referral of cases to Rwanda for trial. Late in 2007, he filed applications for the referral of the cases of 4 detainees and one fugitive. All applications failed because the Trial Chambers were of the view that the accused would not receive fair trials in Rwanda as a result of some of the laws in existence in the country at that time.
