Tribunal extends detention of genocide suspect

Judge Erik Mose of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda extended by 21 days on Monday the period of the provisional detention of a genocide suspect, Tharcisse Renzaho. The period will now expire on 19 November.

The prosecuting attorney, Cire Ba, had requested the extension at the end of the 30-day provisional detention period on 29 October, saying that it was "impossible to file the indictment and supporting material earlier", the tribunal reported. In addition, he said, the statements of two witnesses qualified as "important" during the hearing were missing from the material supporting the indictment.

Renzaho was arrested on 29 September in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and transferred the same day to the tribunal's detention facility in Arusha, Tanzania. He is being held in connection with his role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, during which he was governor of Kigali. Under the tribunal's rules, a suspect may only be provisionally detained for a maximum of 30 days starting from the day of the suspect's transfer to the detention facility. The prosecution is supposed to issue an indictment before the end of this period.