ICTR rescinds decision on defence investigator

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Friday said that it had rescinded an early decision not to renew the contract of an investigator in the defence team of Ferdinand Nahimana, Aloys Ngendahimana, a statement from ICTR said. “At present the information available to the registrar is not such as to confirm that the person sought by the Rwandan authorities is in fact the investigator from Ferdinand Nahimana’s defence team. The decision not to renew Mr. Ngendahimana’s contract is therefore rescinded,” the statement said.

On 16 July, the registrar of Tribunal decided that the contracts of certain investigators employed by defence counsel would be suspended or would not be renewed. The decision was taken in order to prevent abuse of the Tribunal’s legal aid scheme and to protect the integrity of its judicial procedures. Ngendahimana, an investigator in Nahimana’s defence team was affected by that decision since his name appeared on a list of persons suspected of genocide (Category 1) drawn up by the Rwandan judicial authorities and an investigation against him was opened by the Public Prosecutor of Gikongoro, ICTR said.

“Reliable additional information has shown that there is a possibility that the defence investigator and the person under investigation by the Rwandan authorities are namesakes,” the ICTR statement said.