 |
Relative of Former Rwandan President Handed Over to UN Tribunal
A close relative of former Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana has been transferred from Belgium to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Tanzania's northern town of Arusha to face charges of crimes against humanity.
Protais Zigiranyirazo, a brother-in-law of late president Habyarimana, was arrested in Belgium on July 26, 2001 at the request of the Tribunal, an ICTR press release said on Thursday.
A member of the Akazu, the powerful inner circle of Habyarimana known as masterminding the genocide, Zigiranyirazo requested political asylum but was subsequently detained and transferred by the Belgian authorities to the United Nations Detention Facility in Arusha,.
Zigiranyirazo, 63, prefect of Ruhengeri in northwest Rwanda from 1974 to 1989, is a brother of Habyarimana's wife, Agathe Kanziga.
He is accused of having planned and facilitated the killings between April and July 1994 by collaborating with regional and local officials in the distribution of arms, and by ordering roadblocks and subsequent killings.
During May 1994, Zigiranyirazo allegedly ordered his son Jean- Marie-Vlanney Makiza to kill three gendarmes who had been detained at a roadblock in Giciye, opposite his residence.
Zigiranyirazo will make his initial appearance shortly before a Trial Chamber or a judge of the Tribunal.
The arrival of Zigiranyirazo brings the number of genocide suspects arrested by the ICTR to 54.
The ICTR, created on November 8, 1994 by the United Nations Security Council resolution 955, has the mandate to try persons suspected to be responsible for the genocide and other serious violations of the international humanitarian law committed in the territory of Rwanda between January 1 and December 31, 1994.
It also has the mandate to try Rwandan citizens responsible for such violations committed in the territory of neighboring states during the 100-day massacre which claimed more than 500,000 civilians, mostly the ethnic Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.
The ICTR has so far convicted eight people for their roles in the killings, including Jean Kambanda, former Prime Minister of Rwanda, Jean-Paul Akayesu, former Bourgmestre of Taba and Clement Kayishema, former Prefect of Kibuye, who have been sentenced to imprisonment for life.
In This Section
|