UN prosecutor vows to wind up all Rwandan cases in two years
Serge Brammertz, the Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations’ International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) speaks to journalists in Kigali in 2019. Sam Ngendahimana.
By Hudson Kuteesa
The chief prosecutor for the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), Serge Brammertz, expects to close the cases of the three remaining ICTR-indicted fugitives of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda within the next one to two years.
After the arrest of Fulgence Kayishema, the number of genocide fugitives indicted by the now defunct International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is now down to three.
The suspects still at large are Aloys Ndimbati, a former Bourgmestre [mayor] of Gisovu commune, Kibuye préfecture, Charles Ryandikayo a former businessman in Mubuga secteur, Gishyita commune, in the Kibuye prefecture, and Charles Sikubwabo, a former Bourgmestre of Gishyita commune in Kibuye prefecture.
They are charged with counts ranging from genocide and complicity in genocide to direct and public incitement to commit genocide and crimes against humanity.
Speaking to The New Times, Brammertz said: “We hope to be able, within the next 12 or 24 months, to close the remaining three cases hopefully with an arrest if possible.
“That is always our main objective, but if not, bring closure to the cases by finding remains like we did for Mpiranya and others.”
The Mechanism’s Office of the Prosecutor has a tracking team responsible for gathering intelligence on the whereabouts and activities of the fugitives and providing support to national law enforcement authorities in arresting them.
Among those arrested are Ladislas Ntaganzwa, Felicien Kabuga, and Fulgence Kayishema, while Protais Mpiranya, Augustin Bizimana and Phénéas Munyarugarama were confirmed to have died.
Source The New Times.
