[JURIST] Justice Hassan Bubacar Jallow [WJP profile], Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website] on Tuesday reiterated the UN Security Council’s request [JURIST report] for member states to help bring to justice nine fugitives allegedly responsible for war crimes during the 1994 Rwandan genocide [BBC backgrounder]. Jallow urged the men to turn themselves in [UN News Centre report] and stated that there is no time limit for their prosecution. Since its creation in 1994, the ICTR has indicted 93 individuals for their involvement in the Rwandan genocide. The tribunal has arrested all of these individuals, with the exception of the nine fugitives. The UN Security Council [official website] extended the terms of office [UN News Centre report] for five of the ICTR judges and has urged them to complete their work for the tribunal by 2014.

Many countries have attempted to assist the ICTR in locating and bringing to justice those responsible for war crimes committed during the Rwandan genocide. In April French law enforcement officials arrested [JURIST report] Tite Barahira, a former Rwandan leader, for conspiracy to commit genocide. In January Rwandan genocide suspect Innocent Musabyimana was arrested [JURIST report] in France on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. In December the ICTR convicted [JURIST report] former Rwandan minister Augustin Ngirabatware, sentencing him to 35 years in prison and concluding the tribunal’s final trial. Ngirabatware was found guilty on charges of genocide, incitement to commit genocide and rape as a crime against humanity. In July 2012 the ICTR Residual Mechanism began its work [UN News Centre report] assisting with the winding down of the ICTR and assuring that all remaining fugitives of the Rwandan genocide face justice.