Arusha — The spokesman of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Tuesday, denied claims that the Tribunal was a victim of external political pressure.

Roland Amoussouga was reacting to claims made earlier by the representative of Rwanda to the ICTR, Aloys Mutabingwa, that recent resignations by top Tribunal officials were the result of political pressures, singling out France as one of the probable culprits.

"This is an independent Tribunal. It does not take orders from anyone, not France not Rwanda," declared Amoussouga.

The latest exchange of accusations was the result of the recent withdrawal from an important case by the vice President of the ICTR, Judge Andresia Vaz from Senegal. The vice President is the second highest ranking judge.

Judge Vaz was the presiding judge in the case of four former Rwandan government officials who are on trial at the Arusha-based Tribunal.

Lawyers for the accused had filed numerous petitions seeking the removal of the judges in the trial. They had argued that since Judge Vaz had once provided accommodation for a member of the prosecuting team in this trial, there was no guarantee that she would be impartial.

"Judge Vaz voluntarily withdrew from the case because she has the highest esteem for the dignity of a judge", said Amoussouga, adding that other judges who had resigned had done so "for personal reasons".

Judge Vaz's withdrawal from the case follows shortly after the resignation from the Tribunal of Judge George Lloyd Williams from St. Kitts and Nevis and Judge Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana from Sri Lanka.

Earlier, the Rwandan representative had praised the Tribunal's existence highly "in terms of precedence, judgements delivered and even in terms of the spirit needed to address issues of international concerns like genocide and crimes against humanity".

However Mutabingwa had also criticized the Tribunal's delay in transferring some of the convicted persons to Rwanda to serve out their sentences. Amoussouga has said that this was an area they are working on.

So far no replacement for Judge Andresia Vaz has been named by the President of the Tribunal.