ICTR begins winding up

The Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Monday swore in nine judges, including three East Africans, to wind up cases still pending at UN Court ahead of its December 2014 closure. Veteran jurists Lee Muthoga from Kenya, Solomy B. Bossa from Uganda, Tanzania’s Joseph C. Masanche and William H. Sekule joined fellow judges Florence Arrey, Vagn Prüsse Joensen, Gberdao G. Kam, Seon K. Park, Rajohnson Rajohnson M. R. Mparany in being sworn in to the International Residual Mechanism of Tribunal.The ICTR was set up to determine cases of the worst crimes committed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda in which an estimated one million people were killed. As part of the winding up process, the United Nations Security Council set up the International Residual Mechanism in December 2010 and mandated it to complete the remaining cases and judicial processes by December 2014. The mechanism begins functioning on July 1, this year.According to a statement from the ICTR received by The New Times, the President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, Judge Theodor Meron, says the establishment of the system was important to the continued protection of the rights of victims, witnesses and persons tried by the court and its sister tribunal, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The establishment of the mechanism is meant to ensure that the closure of the two tribunals does not leave the door open to impunity for those whose trials or appeals have not been completed and is expected to settle fears that they might close before they conclude all the cases before them. The ICTR has had trouble winning the confidence of those it was meant to serve and of the region as a whole, in spite of the vast resources at its disposal.Indeed, fears that certain aspects of the International Residual Mechanism which will be new to the judges and the parties appearing before them and might slow down the process were swiftly cleared by Meron.He said: “Any novelty we may encounter in this respect is more than balanced by the institution’s normative continuity, which we will find in the Statute and, hopefully, the future Rules of the International Residual Mechanism which hew closely to those of the ICTY and ICTR.”Registered a first After slow process and, at times lengthy legal processes, the Tribunal achieved a milestone when it transferred the first suspect ever, Jean Bosco Uwinkindi, to Rwanda under its rules of Procedure and Evidence.Uwinkindi, 61, was a litmus test for spirited attempts by the Rwandan government to convince the Tribunal and countries holding other Genocide suspects that its criminal justice was capable of trying them. Four earlier attempts to transfer other cases were rejected by the Tribunal claiming that the country’s judiciary system was flawed.His trial will be monitored by two officials designated by the Registrar of the Tribunal on a interim basis before a permanent arrangement is reached either with the African Court of Human and People’s Rights or capacity allowing even perhaps, the Pan African Lawyers Union, which is the premier umbrella for all Bar Associations and Societies on the continent.But Winkindi’s transfer serves another fundamental purpose; through the Rule of Precedence, it addresses fears by some Western countries holding Genocide suspects about the viability and competence of Rwandan courts in trying them.However, debate on the future of the archives of the Tribunal and where they should be hosted is yet to be settled and remains a sore spot in relations between the UN court and Kigali. In Rwanda, the archives are considered a part of the country’s history that deserve to be kept where the Genocide took place.

National

ICTR begins winding up