JURIST - Paper Chase: Rwanda genocide tribunal seeks UN assistance in relocating acquitted men

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website] on Thursday requested UN assistance in relocating former Rwandan transportation minister Andre Ntagerura [ICTR materials]. Ntagerura is presently living in Tanzania, with the ICTR paying for his accommodations. He was acquitted in 2004 of charges of playing a role in the 1994 genocide [JURIST news archive. The ICTR has been searching, unsuccessfully, for a country to offer to take him in since the acquittal was upheld in 2006. Ntagerura's situation is not unique, as a number of acquitted individuals are currently living with the support [AFP report] of the ICTR, including the brother-in-law of former Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, Protais Zigiranyirazo [Trial Watch profile], who was acquitted [JURIST report] in 2009, and General Gratien Kabiligi [Trial Watch profile], acquitted in 2008.

The ICTR, formed pursuant to UN Security Council Resolution 955 [materials], is charged with investigating and bringing to justice perpetrators of crimes of genocide that occurred in Rwanda in 1994. That mission has continued 16 years after the tribunal's formation, and the results have been a mix of successes and challenges [JURIST op-ed]. Last month, the ICTR opened the trial of a former Kivumu mayor [JURIST report], charged in connection with deaths at a church in that town in April 1994. The tribunal has faced adversity since its creation, including the shooting death [JURIST report] of one of the senior defense lawyers in July.