Sweden, UN tribunal sign pact on enforcement of sentences

Sweden and the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) signed an agreement on Tuesday on the enforcement of sentences imposed by the court on those found guilty of involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

The court reported on Tuesday that ICTR Registrar Adama Dieng and Swedish Ambassador Carl Henrik Ehrenkrona, signed the agreement at the tribunal's headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. ICTR President Erik Mose and Prosecutor Hassan Jallow witnessed the signing.

The agreement underlines the commitment of the Swedish government to facilitate the "discharge and completion of the mandate of the ICTR", the court reported.

Sweden becomes the sixth country to agree to receive ICTR convicts, after Benin, France, Italy, Mali and Swaziland. Already, the court said, six convicts are serving their sentences in Bamako, Mali.

Under the tribunal's Statute, sentences of imprisonment "shall be served in Rwanda or in any of the States on a list of states which have indicated to the [UN] Security Council their willingness to accept convicted persons as designated by the ICTR".

The Security Council set up the court in 1995 to bring to trial the perpetrators of the genocide, in which 937,000 people were killed, according to the Rwandan government.