THEONESTE BAGOSORA TO FACE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT FOR RWANDA
Press Release
L/2789
THEONESTE BAGOSORA TO FACE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT FOR RWANDA
19960523 The following was issued on Friday, 17 May, in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda:The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (the "International Tribunal") has submitted to the Trial Chamber an application for a formal request for deferral to be made to the Government of Belgium in the case of Theoneste Bagosora.
Colonel Theoneste Bagosora was Director of the Cabinet of the Ministry of Defence in Rwanda, a position he held throughout the April 1994 events. Moreover, he was one of the close associates of President Habyarimana. He has been detained in Yaounde, Cameroon, since 9 March, pursuant to an international warrant of arrest issued by the Belgian Examining Magistrate, Judge Vandermeersch. He is the subject of a request for extradition from the Belgian and Rwandan authorities. He is alleged to have masterminded the massacres of Rwandan civilians, as well as the murder of 10 Belgian soldiers from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) contingent.
The Trial Chamber, presided by Judge Laity Kama, President of the International Tribunal, and consisting of Judges Lennart Aspegren and Navanethem Pillay, has today granted the request and formally requested the Government of Belgium to defer to the International Tribunal all investigations and criminal proceedings currently being conducted against Theoneste Bagosora.
Also today, the International Tribunal, sitting as Judge Aspegren, has granted requests made by the Prosecutor and ordered the provisional detention, for a maximum period of 30 days, of the following:
Theoneste Bagosora; Ferdinand Nahimana (one of the alleged persons responsible for the propaganda leading to the genocide); Anatole Nsengiyumva; and Andre Ntagerura, and ordered their transfer to the Tribunal's detention unit.
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