A former Rwandan mayor, Ignace Bagilishema, who was last month acquitted of genocide, is still being detained by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, the BBC reported on Tuesday. Bagilishema’s lawyers told the BBC Kinyarwanda service that several countries had refused entry to their client, including France. The lawyers have appealed to the UN to ensure their client can go free. Prosecutors in Arusha have appealed against his acquittal, but the Tribunal has said it is prepared to release him, provided he tells them where he is and reports regularly to police until the appeal is heard. Bagilishema, the ex-mayor of Mabanza in western Rwanda, surrendered to the authorities in South Africa in 1999. The Tribunal acquitted him saying the prosecution’s evidence was “unconvincing”.
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