Hirondelle News Agency (Lausanne)
22 September 2008
Montreal — Andre Ntagerura, a former Rwandan Minister acquitted in 2004 by UN Court over his role in the 1994 genocide, has filed a motion before the UN Appeals Chamber, asking it to order Canada to grant him asylum.
He is also seeking that Canada, a member of the UN, to co-operate with the global body.
Minister for Transport and Communications in the interim government during the genocide, Ntagerura was acquitted of the charges of crimes against humanity and genocide.
But without having obtained asylum in a third country, he has been living since his acquittal in a safe house in Arusha. However, in a co-operation request dated 26 April 2004, the ICTR Registrar had officially asked Canada to grant such a status to the former minister.
An acquittal, confirmed by the Appeals Court, was not complete as long as the former defendant has not found a host country, wrote to the five judges of the ICTR Appeals Court, which is headquartered in The Hague, The Netherlands, Philippe Larochelle, Ntagerura's lawyer.
"Such a de facto detention constitutes a permanent violation of the rights of Mr. Ntagerura and requires the intervention of the Appeals Chamber", he stressed.
The 12-page motion, a copy of which Hirondelle Agency has obtained, was transmitted to Appeals Court on 18 September, the scheduled deadline by the Tribunal which had agreed a week earlier to hear the appeal.
Mr. Larochelle disputes the decision rendered by the President of the ICTR on 31 March 2008, and by Chamber III of the ICTR, on 15 May 2008, in which the judges had considered that the "request note" issued by the ICTR Registrar was sufficient to obligate Canada to issue an asylum for Ntagerura.
"As the end of the ICTR mandate approaches, the fate of the people acquitted risks to sully the successes of the Tribunal, added the lawyer.
In the light of the subject and of the goal of its mandate, to deliver fair justice, it is completely reasonable to resort to the mechanism of Article 28 of the statutes to obligate countries to cooperate to the full realization of the acquittals, he stated.
For all these reasons, Larochelle noted, it is requested from the ICTR Appeals Court "to order Canada to respect the terms of the co-operation request" and to order Canada to grant asylum to Ntagerura".
The ICTR Registrar has until 26 September to respond to the motion, following that the defence of the former minister will have four more days to issue a new response. At this point in time the Tribunal in The Hague will render its verdict.
If this procedure succeeds and that the Tribunal "forces the hand on Canada", it would be a historic achievement for an international law", Larochelle told Hirondelle Agency.
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