ICTR sacks defence investigators

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has terminated the contracts of four defence investigators suspected of involvement in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. In a press release issued on Monday, the ICTR registrar, Adama Dieng, said the measures had been taken in line with an earlier statement in June aimed at “preventing abuses of the legal aid system and protecting the integrity of the Tribunal’s judicial process”. Three investigators did not have their contracts renewed. They are Augustin Basebya, who was working for the team of former Rwandan mayor Juvénal Kajelijeli; Augustin Karera, who was working on the case of former minister Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda; and Aloys Ngandahimana, an investigator for former RTLM radio director Ferdinand Nahimana. The fourth investigator, Thadée Kwitonda, who was on the team of former Interahamwe militia leader Arsène Shalom Ntahobali, has had his current contract suspended. All are genocide suspects. “It is of the utmost importance to stress that, in making these decisions, the Registry of the International Tribunal makes no presumption of the guilt of these individuals for the crimes for which they are suspected or accused,” Deng said. “Thus the Tribunal stands ready to reconsider them for clearance for employment by any defence counsel in the Tribunal should they be cleared of the charges and suspicions against them in the Rwandan judicial system or in the International Tribunal.”