Rwanda: TASKFORCE TO INVESTIGATE ALLEGED MISTREATMENT OF WITNESSES

ICTR SETS UP TASKFORCE TO INVESTIGATE ALLEGED MISTREATMENT OF WITNESSES

By Sukhdev Chhatbar

ARUSHA 5 March 2002 (Internews) The International Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda (ICTR) and the government of Rwanda have agreed to establish a
four-member taskforce to investigate the alleged mistreatment of witnesses
at the tribunal. The team will also investigate claims that people suspected
to have been involved in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda are working as defense
investigators at the ICTR.

"The team will investigate all the allegations and present a comprehensive
report for necessary follow-up," Adama Dieng, ICTR Registrar, told Internews
today.

Of the four team-members, two will come from Rwanda and two from the ICTR
Registry. Dieng stressed that the members from Rwanda may be judges, to
ensure credibility.

"I want to see that all allegations are cleared henceforth. If there will be
any discrepancy, I'm prepared to resolve it in a very transparent manner.
But if the allegations are false, we expect others concerned to take a
similar action," he pledged.

The formation of the team was agreed upon during a meeting between Dieng and
Rwanda's Justice Minister Jean de dieu Mucyo in Kigali last week.

"I had a very fruitful discussion in Kigali and we are all determined to see
the smooth functioning of the tribunal," Dieng said.

Dieng went to Kigali to discuss assistance to genocide victims and the
establishment of a victims' assistance fund.

The four-member taskforce is expected to be operational by the end of this
month.

The ICTR will name its two members when Dieng returns from New York in a
fortnight's time. He left for the United States yesterday on a working visit
to the United Nations, where he is also expected to meet Kofi Annan, UN
Secretary-General.

The association of genocide survivors in Rwanda, IBUKA, together with
association of genocide widows, AVEGA, announced on 24 January that they
were disillusioned with the functioning of the ICTR and declared their
suspension of co-operation with the UN tribunal.

Earlier this month, IBUKA Secretary-General Francois Ngarambe told Internews
that the association is investigating 41 genocide suspects working at the
tribunal.

"The move by the Registrar to form a taskforce is very interesting.we have
received the move very positively," said Martin Ngoga, Special
Representative of the Rwanda government to the ICTR.

More than 800,000 ethnic Tutsi and politically moderate ethnic Hutu were
killed during the April-July 1994 genocide.

In May 2001, Simeon Nshamihigo, a defense investigator at the ICTR, was
arrested in Arusha at the request of the tribunal's prosecutor. Nshamihigo
is currently at the United Nations Detention Facility (UNDF), awaiting trial
for genocide. Another defense investigator, Jospeh Nzabirinda, was arrested
in December in Brussels, Belgium, and is yet to be transferred to UNDF to
face genocide charges.

Nshamihigo was deputy prosecutor in Cyangugu Province and Nzabirinda was
organizer of youth movements in Ngoma commune in Butare Province.

The United Nations established the ICTR in 1995 to try the alleged
perpetrators of the Rwanda genocide.

Currently, there are 52 suspects in the custody of the ICTR. Seven trials
for 17 defendants are in progress before the tribunal. The tribunal has
handed down nine judgments since its inception, one acquittal and eight
convictions. Six of those convicted, including former Rwanda Prime Minister
Jean Kambanda, are serving their sentences in Mali.

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