Global Policy Forum

By Sukhdev Chhatbar

Five genocide convicts, including former Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda, begin serving their sentences in Mali from this month, Judge Navanethem Pillay of South Africa, President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), yesterday told the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Pillay did not name the other four convicts. However, sources at the ICTR told Internews that the four are: Omar Serushago, a former militia leader who pleaded guilty to genocide and was sentenced to 15 years in prison; Jean-Paul Akayesu, a former mayor in Taba commune who received a life sentence; Clement Kayishema, a former governor in Kibuye who was also imprisoned for life and Obed Ruzindana, a former businessman in Kibuye who received a 25-year sentence.

Kambanda, the first leader of a government to be convicted by an international court, pleaded guilty to genocide and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1999. He was prime minister during the April-June 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which claimed more than 800,000 lives.

The ICTR has handed down nine judgments -- eight convictions and one acquittal -- since its establishment in 1995. Three African countries, Mali, Benin and Swaziland, have signed agreements with the ICTR to have some of the convicts serve their sentences in their prisons.

Pillay told the UN General Assembly that the ICTR has taken measures to expedite court proceedings, despite an increase in the number of trials at the Arusha-based tribunal.

These measures, Pillay explained, include the hearing of pre-trial motions by one judge instead of a three-member bench as was the case previously; greater control of the proceedings by judges to save time; continuance of trial even if one of the three judges is away (for maximum of five days); and greater control over the number of witnesses, the length of their testimony and duplication of evidence.

Currently, seven trials for 17 genocide suspects are in process before the ICTR. "All three Trial Chambers are presently engaged in simultaneous trials on a twin or multi-track system," Pillay stressed.

"Trials for accused who are alleged to have been the architects of the killings [in Rwanda] are far more complicated because command responsibility [for actions by subordinates] has to be established and a far greater range of facts are at issues," the ICTR President said, in reference to delays in some of the trials.

Voluminous documents disclosed to all parties in a trial, translation of documents and interpretation of testimonies from Kinyarwanda to French and English and logistics in bringing witnesses from other countries to Arusha, are among the factors that contribute to lengthy and protracted trials, Pillay underscored.

Pillay told the UN Assembly that if the present capacity of nine ICTR judges remains unchanged, the tribunal might not complete trials for the current detainees before the year 2007 (when the court is expected to wind up).

"The judges find this unacceptable," Pillay said, adding that certain detainees have been waiting the commencement of their trials for long periods.

"International standards require the accused to be tried without undue delay," the judge reiterated and urged the UN Security Council to approve the appointment of 18 ad litem (temporary) judges to expedite proceedings. The UN Security Council in June approved the appointment of 27 ad litem judges for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Presently, 26 ICTR detainees awaiting trial, 22 suspects have been indicted but they are still at large and, according to Pillay, Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte expects to indict up to 136 suspects by the year 2005.

Pillay is today expected to brief the UN Security Council on the tribunal's progress. The ICTR President, together with ICTR Registrar Adama Dieng of Senegal, is also scheduled to hold talks with Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General. Claude Jorda of France, ICTY President and ICTY Registrar Hans Holthuis of Netherlands will attend the meeting.

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