Bagilishema acquittal raises new issues

The acquittal at the International criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on 7 June of former Rwandan Mayor Ignace Bagilishema has raised questions about where he can go how that he is a free man, especially since ICTR Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte wants to appeal his acquittal, the independent Hirondelle news agency reported on Thursday. “Two weeks after being officially declared a free man, he still has nowhere to go,” it stated. Bagilishema, who is technically free, has indicated a desire to go to a European country but, because Del Ponte wants to appeal his acquittal, the Court ordered that Bagilishema must have two referees to vouch that he will turn up in court an address in his country of destination. Neither were European countries, or other UN member states, “jumping at the chance to help out”, Hirondelle added. Bagilishema has strongly protested his innocence and, according to his lead defence counsel, Francois Roux, the acquittal should be hailed as a good thing for the ICTR, and for reconciliation in Rwanda. “We have always thought that the Tribunal must be able to make a distinction, to see that some people who are still being prosecuted are really innocent,” he told Hirondelle. “We think that it is in the interest of all the Rwandan population to understand that all Hutus are not genocidal killers,” he added. Rwandan was not happy with Bagilishema’s acquittal but said it accepted the verdict, and Kigali was unlikely to create a major political row on account of “relatively small fry at a court of big fish”, according to Hirondelle.