RWANDA: Two former ministers acquitted on appeal.
The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) acquitted two former Rwandan ministers whom the lower court had sentenced to 30 years in jail. Justin Mugenzi was Minister of Trade during the 1994 genocide, while Prosper Mugiraneza was Public Service Minister. On September 30, 2011, both men were found guilty of conspiracy to commit genocide and direct and public incitement to commit genocide. The reason: their presence at two key meetings in April 1994. The Appeals Chamber overturned their conviction and ordered their immediate release. Rwandan Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga has called the ICTR's acquittal "extremely disappointing" and stated that "the appalling discrepancies in decisions, between the trial and appeals chambers in a number of cases including this one raises serious questions." On the other hand, Kigali has accused the ICTR of double standards, and threatened to throw out Tribunal observers monitoring the trial in Rwanda of Jean Uwinkindi, the first person transferred by the ICTR. "If the Tribunal does not appoint observers for the two cases transferred to France, we will expel its observers here," Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga said. At the end of 2007, the ICTR transferred to France the cases of Father Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a former parish priest in Kigali, and Laurent Bucyibaruta, former prefect of Gikongoro in southern Rwanda. Pentecostal pastor Jean Uwinkindi was transferred to Kigali in April 2012."Why must our judicial system be monitored and not that of France, which hasn't done anything about these cases transferred so long ago? There is no fairness in that", continued Ngoga. The ICTR –or, after its closure, the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals– reserve the right to take back a case transferred to a country, if the conditions for a fair trial are not met. France has denied delaying to dispense justice to genocide fugitives on its soil, arguing that the halting of diplomatic relations between the two countries from 2006-2009 played a role in French courts not speeding up the process of trying the suspects. Rwanda's National Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga recently said that his office was weighing up the option of advising government to sue France for failing to extradite over 20 genocide fugitives or trying them. (Hirondelle News, 04, 05, 07/02/13 and AllAfrica, 05, 07/02/13)