JURIST - Paper Chase: Rwanda genocide tribunal transfers fifth case to national court

[JURIST] The UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website] on Wednesday transferred [press release] the case of Bernard Munyagishari [materials] to the authorities of the Republic of Rwanda. The Referral Chamber of the ICTR ruled [decision, PDF] upon the prosecution's request to refer the case to Rwanda subject to several guidelines and requested an expedited trial in the High Court of Rwanda. The former government official was charged [indictment, PDF] with conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, complicity in genocide, murder and rape after he was arrested [JURIST report] in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in May last year.

Munyagishari's case is the fifth to be transferred to Rwandan national courts. In May, the case of Ladislas Ntaganzwa [case materials] was transferred [JURIST report] to the Rwandan national court system. Ntaganzwa, a former mayor of Nyakizu commune in Butare, had been charged with with conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Conventions. Jean-Bosco Uwinkindi [case materials], a former Rwandan pastor and a genocide suspect, was the first to be transferred [JURIST report] from the ICTR to the national court. Uwinkindi appealed to the decision to transfer his case but it was rejected [JURIST reports] by the ICTR in December. He has been charged in 2001 with genocide and crimes against humanity. The other two transferred cases are against Fulgence Kayishema [case materials; JURIST report], a former police inspector, and Charles Sikubwabo [case materials], former Bourgmestre of Gishyita, Kibuye Prefecture. Both suspects remain at large.