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Government asks Tanzania to rearrest genocide suspect

[Tanzania] Arusha: ICTR Building Northern Tanzania IRIN
The tribunal's building in Arusha, northern Tanzania.
    NAIROBI

    Rwanda has asked Tanzania to rearrest an investigator for defendants on trial at the UN International Criminal Tribunal (ICTR) for Rwanda because Kigali suspects him of having participated in the 1994 genocide, Rwandan Radio reported on Saturday.

    A Tanzanian court released the investigator, Felix Ntamfurayishyari, on Tuesday after he paid a US $222 fine for illegal entry into Tanzania and for being in possession of a forged Tanzanian passport, news organisations reported. He was arrested in November while trying to obtain a visa from The Netherlands Embassy, the Rwanda News Agency reported on Friday, quoting police sources.

    Ntamfurayishyari works for the defence team of genocide suspect Juvenal Kajelijeli, former burgomaster (mayor) of the Mujima commune in the northwestern Rwandan province of Ruhengeri, news organisations reported.

    Ntamfurayishyari is the third ICTR employee of Rwandan origin to be arrested for possession of false travel documents, the radio reported. A translator with the defence team at the ICTR, Patrick Ssimbwa Bugingo, was arrested with a false Ugandan passport and is in detention, news sources in Arusha told IRIN on Monday, Another former investigator Simon Nshamihigo, using a false Congolese identity, was arrested in May and is also awaiting trial, RNA reported. Rwanda's special representative to the tribunal, Martin Ngoga, told reporters in Arusha, Tanzanian, that nine genocide suspects were still employed by the tribunal. However, the tribunal's registrar, Adama Dieng, denied the allegation.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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