Hirondelle News Agency (Lausanne)
20 November 2008
Arusha — The Prosecutor of International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will be ready to apply for new referral cases to Rwanda once Kigali removes Chamber's judicial obstacles in transferring 1994 genocide accused persons' cases.
In a joint statement issued by the ICTR Thursday, said the agreement was reached following a meeting between the ICTR Prosecutor Hassan Jallow and Rwanda's Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga in Arusha.
"The two Prosecutors identified the concerns of the ICTR and explained ways in which the obstacles to referral could be overcome," said the statement, adding that Mr Ngoga emphasized Rwanda's commitment to work towards achieving success in the referral strategy.
It further added: "ICTR Prosecutor confirmed that once the necessary remedial measures were taken, his office would be ready to apply to the ICTR Chambers to consider further request for referrals to Rwanda."
The meeting, which spanned for two days, was also attended by the Rwanda's Special Representative to ICTR, Alloys Mutabingwa.
The ICTR Chambers have turned down four referral applications and two of which were upheld by the UN Appeals Court. One application for transfer was yet to be heard.
Among the obstacles raised by the Chambers include defence witness protection and work conditions of defence lawyers.
The Rwandan Senate has already passed a law to remove detention in isolation for convicted persons, which was among the obstacle of the Chambers in their separate judgements.
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