UN tribunal refers case of fugitive genocide suspect to Rwanda court
Publisher | UN News Service |
Publication Date | 26 March 2012 |
Cite as | UN News Service, UN tribunal refers case of fugitive genocide suspect to Rwanda court, 26 March 2012, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4f759f712.html [accessed 1 June 2023] |
Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
The referral chamber of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) ordered that the case regarding Charles Sikubwabo, the suspect, be referred to the authorities in Rwanda who will in turn send it for trial by the High Court.
Mr. Sikubwabo, a former mayor of Gishyita in the western Kibuye prefecture, is charged with genocide or complicity in genocide, as well as conspiracy to commit genocide and crimes against humanity. In November 2010, the ICTR's Prosecutor had requested that the court refer the case to Rwanda.
In today's announcement, judges ordered that Mr. Sikubwabo's case be handed over to the Prosecutor-General of Rwanda, as soon as possible and no later than 30 days after the ICTR decision has become final.
The referral chamber expressed its hope that Rwanda, in accepting referrals from the ICTR, will put into practice commitments it has made about its good faith, capacity and willingness to enforce the highest standards of international justice in the referred cases.
The ICTR judges requested Rwanda to provide the tribunal or the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals with quarterly reports on efforts taken to apprehend Mr. Sikubwabo until the time when the accused is arrested or Rwanda receives news and confirmation of his death.
Based in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha, the ICTR was set up after the Rwandan genocide, when at least 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed during three months of bloodletting that followed the death of the then-president Juvenal Habyarimana.