FIRST-EVER JUDGEMENTS ON CRIME OF GENOCIDE DUE 2 SEPTEMBER
Press Release
AFR/93
L/2894
FIRST-EVER JUDGEMENTS ON CRIME OF GENOCIDE DUE 2 SEPTEMBER
19980831 NEW YORK, 31 August -- In what will be a pivotal moment in the history of international criminal law, a United Nations tribunal on 2 September will hand down the first-ever verdict on the crime of genocide by an international court. Two days later, the Tribunal -- the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, based in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania -- will pronounce in a separate case, the first-ever sentence for genocide.These two landmark decisions will also for the first time bring to practical life, the lofty ideals of the Genocide Convention. Through the Tribunal, the Convention has been lifted from the statute books to become, 50 years after its adoption in the wake of the holocaust, a testament to the world's renewed determination to collectively tackle genocide in a manner it never has before. The Rwanda Tribunal was created by the United Nations Security Council in November 1994 after one of the most intense periods of mass exterminations in human history. At least 500,000 people, primarily Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were brutally massacred in just three months in the middle of that year.
"The success of this court in prosecuting genocide is a historic milestone and a defining example of the ability of the United Nations to create institutions which fulfil the highest aspirations of mankind", Secretary-General Kofi Annan said as he prepared to leave for the Non-Aligned Summit in South Africa on 30 August. "I am very pleased that the United Nations is playing the central role in generating the strong international cooperation that is needed in combating the unmatched scourge of genocide".
In the dock now are Jean-Paul Akayesu, who was the mayor of Taba district and whose verdict will be pronounced on 2 September; and more significantly, Jean Kambanda, who was Rwanda's Prime Minister during the genocide and has pleaded guilty. His sentence will be announced on 4 September.
The Tribunal has in its custody a total of 26 indicted Rwandans and 5 suspects. All 31 come from what Tribunal Registrar Agwu Okali calls "the commanding heights" of Rwanda's governing elite during the time the genocide took place. They were arrested by countries across Africa and Europe and delivered to the Tribunal in Arusha. In addition, another accused, Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, a pastor, is being held in Texas in the United States. A
federal judge ordered his deportation to Arusha on 5 August, but he has one month in which to appeal.
It is the international nature of this effort to prosecute genocidaires that has made it possible for the Tribunal to make such historic headway. The Tribunal was established by the United Nations Security Council, and its impartiality assured by the appointment of some of the world's most prominent judges and prosecutors from all five continents.
That internationally assured impartiality, and the Tribunal's mandated global reach were the key to obtaining the cooperation of the numerous Member States who voluntarily arrested and then handed over so many high-level accused.
The work of the Rwanda Tribunal and of the accompanying Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia capture the growing recognition of the international dimension of criminal justice, a recognition exemplified also by the overwhelming support at the Rome Conference in July for establishing a permanent International Criminal Court. Of particular interest to the new court's supporters will be the success of the Tribunal in obtaining an extraordinary level of international cooperation in apprehending those sought by the Tribunal, with 11 countries participating in the exercise thus far.
Equal skill was needed by the Tribunal to locate the traumatized witnesses of the genocide in widely dispersed countries, communities and refugee camps, and obtain their agreement to testify in Arusha despite the inherent risks of such testimony.
The Tribunal's next major challenge will be to find countries which will accept for incarceration, those found guilty. Norway and Denmark have definitively indicated their willingness to take some of those convicted, and a number of African and other States have opened negotiations with Tribunal officials as well. The Tribunal prefers that as many of the convicted as possible be imprisoned within Africa.
Suspects arrested by Rwandan national authorities are tried by Rwandan courts, which can impose the death penalty for those found guilty. The Tribunal can impose a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Basic facts about the judgements and the Tribunal
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was established in November 1994, by the United Nations Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Chapter. The Tribunal is based in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania.
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The ICTR is the first international body charged specifically with prosecuting crimes of genocide. The Tribunal's jurisdiction extends to serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in Rwanda, and to Rwandan citizens responsible for such violations committed in neighbouring states, between 1 January-31 December 1994.
The trial and judgement (2 September) of Jean-Paul Akayesu are the first-ever for the crime of genocide by an international court. Akayesu was indicted on 15 counts of genocide, including extermination, murder, torture and rape. He was Bourgmestre (district mayor) of Taba.
Jean Kambanda on 1 May 1998 became the first person to accept culpability for genocide before an international court. His sentence (4 September) will be the first-ever for genocide. Kambanda was Prime Minister of the Government in power during the genocide, and was accused of presiding over meetings of the Rwandan Council of Ministers at which massacres against Tutsis were discussed.
The Nüremberg and Tokyo trials, organized by the Allies, were the first ones to prosecute and punish war crimes and crimes against humanity. The death penalty was available in those trials.
The maximum sentence the Tribunal can impose is life imprisonment; those tried and found guilty in Rwandan courts can be sentenced to death.
The Tribunal has issued indictments against 35 individuals; 26 of them are in custody in Arusha. Another accused is in custody in the United States. Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, a pastor, is being held in Texas. His son, Gerard Ntakirutimana, a medical doctor, is indicted and in custody in Arusha. The other eight indictees have not yet been apprehended. There are also 5 suspects in custody in Arusha.
Pauline Nyiramasuhuko is the first woman ever to be indicted for genocide; she was a government minister. Two other former ministers have also been indicted: Andre Ntagerura and Theoneste Bagosora.
In addition to Kambanda and Akayesu, three other accused are being tried currently in two separate trials.
Of the 31 persons in custody in Arusha, 10 were arrested and transferred from Kenya, 6 from Cameroon and 3 from Zambia; others were delivered by Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote D'Ivoire, Mali, Switzerland and Togo. All those arrested within Rwanda are tried by Rwandan courts.
Judge Laïty Kama (Senegal) is the President of the Tribunal; the Vice- President is Judge Yakov Ostrovsky of Russia. The four other judges are from
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Tanzania, Sweden, South Africa and Bangladesh. They were elected by the United Nations General Assembly in May 1995 for 4 year terms.
Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald (USA) presides over the Appeals Chamber, which also serves the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia; the Vice-President is Judge Mohammed Shahabuddeen (Guyana). The other three members of the Appeals Chamber are from China, Colombia and Malaysia.
Judge Louise Arbour (Canada) is the head of the Tribunal's Prosecutor's office, which also serves the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The Deputy prosecutor is Bernard Muna (Cameroon), who deals exclusively with the Rwanda Tribunal. He has been assisted in the Akayesu trial by Pierre-Richard Prosper (USA). Judge Richard Goldstone of South Africa was the previous head of the Office of the Prosecutor. The ICTR Prosecutor's office is based in Kigali, Rwanda.
Agwu Ukiwe Okali (Nigeria) is the Tribunal's Registrar. Imelda Merle Perry (St. Lucia) is Acting Deputy Registrar.
For further information, please contact: Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, at (212) 963-7160; Salim Lone, United Nations Department of Public Information, New York, at (212) 963-6856, Fax (212) 963- 1334, e-mail: lone@un.org; Kevin S. Kennedy at (212) 963-6821, Fax (212) 963- 1186, e-mail: kennedy3@un.org; or Kingsley Moghalu, ICTR, Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, 255-57-4207-11, Fax 57-400, e-mail: moghalu@un.org. Sometimes it is easier to reach Mr. Moghalu through his UN Headquarters contact points at (212) 963-2850, Fax (212) 963-7364.
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