Sept. 21
RWANDA:
Rwanda suspects boycott trials
In Tanzania, dozens of suspected masterminds of Rwanda's 1994 genocide are
boycotting their trials at a U.N. tribunal to protest plans to move future
proceedings to Kigali, defense lawyers said on Tuesday.
Forty-three of the 67 detainees at the court in the Tanzanian town of
Arusha began the protest on Monday, fearing they could face the death
penalty if cases are transferred to Rwanda's legal system.
"The detainees are saying that while in the hands of the U.N., they should
remain in the hands of the U.N.," said Hamuli Rety, president of the
defense counsel association (ADAD).
"They are afraid that if one got 20 years and is transferred to Rwanda to
carry out their sentence, then they will serve 20 years and then get
death."
Observers say the U.N. is unwilling to use force to comply the defendants
to attend their trials.
Under intense pressure to meet a U.N. deadline to wrap up investigations
by the end of this year and all trials by 2008, the court announced in
August it would hand over about 40 cases to national courts in Rwanda.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) also said it would
start to transfer convicted prisoners to Rwanda early next year under an
agreement with Rwanda's government.
All trials so far have been held at the tribunal, set up to try the
masterminds of the 1994 genocide, when 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus
were slaughtered by Hutu extremists.
Since 1994, the tribunal has indicted 81 people for genocide-related
crimes, convicted 20 and acquitted 3.
Rwanda's jails are already overflowing with genocide suspects and most are
yet to stand trial. The country accuses the tribunal of inefficiency and
mismanagement.
The ICTR and the Rwandan government are finalizing an agreement that will
waive the death penalty for cases transferred from Arusha and the tribunal
will post monitors in local courts to ensure fair trials, ICTR officials
have said.
Of the 40-plus cases to be transferred to Rwanda early next year most
defendants are still at large, but at least 5 are in custody in Arusha.
Any trials that have already started will not be transferred to Rwanda,
but if detainees currently on trial are eventually convicted they may be
moved to Rwanda to serve their sentences.
Rety said defense lawyers received orders on Monday that trials would
still go on despite the absence of the accused and that the counsel would
have to appear for their clients.
"This is a very strange procedure. In our ethics, we should only assist
our clients and not stand in their place," he said.
(source: Reuters)
