Rwanda will not relent in its push to host the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) genocide archives even when the court closes.

Senior ICTR officials met with Rwanda judicial leaders, last week, in Kigali ahead of the official court closure after 20 years of adjudication.

In their discussions, it was clear that unresolved concerns by Rwanda would dent the legacy of ICTR although officials say 80 per cent of the court’s mandate was achieved.

The court, which is supposed to wind up by December 31, will be replaced by the Residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunal (MICT).

Rwanda and the tribunal established in 1995 have disagreed over several issues, including lengthy but minimal trials, refusal to transfer archives of the court to Rwanda and breach of sentence enforcements of convicts.

Addressing journalists shortly after meeting with Vagn Prusse, the president of the court, last week, Chief Justice Sam Rugege said a lot might have been achieved including sufficient amount of Jurisprudence for future use, but Rwanda’s concerns on the court’s archives are yet to be fully addressed.

"Archives would help us at the judiciary, because they are a precedence based on Rwandan cases. We, as the judiciary, like other departments of government, are interested in having the archives here. We will continue to pursue it, to have all the archives brought to Rwanda,” Prof. Rugege said.

At least 900,000 pages of transcripts, audio and video recordings of more than 6,000 trial days, 10,000 decisions, on top of 1,020 terabytes digital content are shelved at the tribunal centre in Arusha, Tanzania.

According to the tribunal officials, the court documents, including those classified as ‘confidential’, are the sole property of the United Nations.

In his response, Hassan Boubacar Jallow, the tribunal’s prosecutor-general, said some of the material will be accessible online.

Rwanda’s concerns

Rwanda’s quest to have the archives transferred to Kigali was supported by other regional players, according to UN 2010 resolution.

Besides, the Tanzanian government had earlier expressed no interest in keeping custody of the archives irrespective of the residual mechanism set by the UN Security Council.

Other concerns raised by government include the court’s previous failure on sentence enforcements, after some of the convicts randomly obtained rights to talk about their convictions with some denying the Genocide and promoting hate speech.

Kambanda’s interview

In July, Jean Kambanda, a former prime minister who was convicted of genocide crimes and sentenced to life in jail, was interviewed by British television network ITV in Mali – where he is serving his sentence – an act that outraged many, including Genocide survivors.

In the interview, Kambanda denied his role in the mass atrocities, claiming that there was no Genocide in the country. He also claimed innocence despite his conviction by the tribunal, arguing that he was denied rights for a legal representation during the trial.

But Bongani Majola, the ICTR registrar, told The New Times that since 2012, the court under, the resolution of the UN Security Council, surrendered all responsibilities regarding sentence enforcement to MICT.

"Kambanda’s interview vexed many people, but ICTR had no jurisdiction whatsoever. Since July 1, 2012, the court had no part in the enforcement of the sentences,” he said.

"However, it is the ICTR that negotiated the agreement for the enforcement of the sentence imposed on Kambanda with the enforcing state, and the terms of agreement did not make any provision for any right of the convicted person on access to media.”

Majola added that the registrar of the mechanism has started to look into the issue and investigation into the circumstances would lead to concrete resolutions.

Since inception, ICTR has overseen 93 indictments of which 61 ended in sentences and 14 acquittals. Some 10 cases were transferred to Rwanda for trial, three suspects died while on trial, two had their cases withdrawn while three others were transferred to MICT.

However, nine of the indicted remain at large, including accused Genocide financier Felcien Kabuga, who has since been sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia.