Arusha — The Association of defence lawyers (ADAD) accredited to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Thursday said they considered the transfer of genocide cases to Rwanda as "inappropriate".

"If the Tribunal decides to pursue members of the current Rwandan government, it would be inappropriate for it to transfer ICTR cases there", announced Hamuli Rety, president of the ADAD.

"How can one transfer to Rwanda people who witnessed atrocities by the RPF [Rwanda Patriotic Front, former rebels now in power]? Rety asked, stressing, "All those detained by the RPF were witnesses to the activities of the RPF".

"If the Tribunal is unable to try them, there are other possible jurisdictions to transfer them to other than Rwanda", pointed out Rety.

The prosecutor of the ICTR, Hassan Bubacar Jallow, early this week announced at the end of a visit to Rwanda that the transfer of some cases to Kigali was "inevitable".

"We are not a permanent court, therefore some of the cases must be transferred to national jurisdictions", Jallow explained.

The prosecutor announced that Rwanda and the Tribunal will, by the end of this year, have signed accords regarding the transfers.

The United Nations Security Council has requested the ICTR to wind up all trials by the year 2008 and the appeals process by 2010.

In order to respect that deadline, the Tribunal has opted to transfer some cases to national jurisdictions, including Rwanda.