Top African prosecutors meeting in the DR Congo capital Kinshasa have committed to work with Rwanda to extradite and or prosecute suspects of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi still at large.
Top African prosecutors meeting in the DR Congo capital Kinshasa have committed to work with Rwanda to extradite and or prosecute suspects of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi still at large.
This was revealed yesterday by the Prosecutor General, Richard Muhumuza, shortly after the end of a four-day annual General Assembly of the Africa Prosecutors’ Association (APA).
Addressing participants, Muhumuza had appealed to his counterparts around Africa to respect the duty to extradite or prosecute all fugitives still in hiding.
"As a follow up to Rwanda’s appeal, most countries attending to whom we have sent indictments, committed to working with us in our pursuit of fugitives,” Muhumuza said.
On Wednesday, Muhumuza told the gathering of over 300 delegates from 20 countries, which, among others, discussed international cooperation on genocide suspects, that once a suspect is located in another country, the country on whose territory the crimes were committed cannot have access to him unless international cooperation and mutual legal assistance are engaged.
African convention
One equally important resolution in the Kinshasa Declaration is "to enhance international cooperation by signing an African Convention promoting closer cooperation through extradition and mutual legal assistance.”
Twenty years after the Genocide, Muhumuza told the ninth APA Assembly that there should be more cooperation from African countries to fight impunity. He urged the fraternity of African prosecutors to cooperate in arresting and extraditing all suspected perpetrators of the Genocide.
The 10-year old Africa Prosecutors Association, the largest and most influential organization of prosecuting attorneys, aims to bring closer public prosecution authorities in order to ensure that suspected criminals do not cross borders and evade justice.
Rwanda has sent 244 international arrest warrants, indictments and extradition requests to 30 countries worldwide.
As the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) winds down its work, it still has nine high profile fugitives at large. Once apprehended, three will be tried by the Mechanism for International Tribunals, a residual institution set to continue the work of the ICTR.
Rwanda hosted the 6th APA annual conference and general meeting in August 2011.