ICTR commission of inquiry cancelled

The registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Adama Dieng, has withdrawn a proposal to establish a commission to investigate allegations of the mistreatment of witnesses at the tribunal, following a disagreement with Rwandan authorities over the commission's mandate.

In a letter sent on Tuesday to Rwandan Minister of Justice and Institutional Relations Jean de Dieu Mucyo, Dieng said that, because of "an inability to agree on certain fundamental points, beyond compromise, regarding the proposed commission's terms of reference", the proposal was being withdrawn.

The registrar had proposed to the government of Rwanda on 4 March "out of concern for transparency and fairness, to establish a joint commission to investigate the allegations of mistreatment of witnesses coming from Rwanda, echoed by certain Rwandan authorities and nongovernmental organisations in recent public statements". Controversy had arisen, however, because the government contended that the commission should also investigate allegations of genocide suspects working within the ICTR.

The registrar would nevertheless spare no effort to shed light on the allegations of mistreatment of witnesses from Rwanda, he said in a statement issued on Wednesday. "The registrar wishes to reassure the Rwandan authorities and witnesses, in particular those from Rwanda, that the tribunal is committed to making certain that, as always, witnesses called to testify in Arusha for either the prosecution or the defence will not suffer any mistreatment, and that their welfare and security will continue to be ensured in the interest of the proper administration of justice," he added.

On 24 January, Avega Agahozo, an association of genocide widows, and Ibuka - Kinyarwanda for "remember" - announced that they were suspending cooperation with the tribunal, and urged the Rwandan government to follow suit "until it [ICTR] has corrected all its mistakes and accorded sufficient importance to victims". The associations said their members would not go to testify before "people who ridicule us and treat our suffering as a banality".

They accused the ICTR of, among other things, recruiting genocide suspects or their relatives as defence investigators, not paying enough attention to the security of prosecution witnesses, "persecution and harassment of prosecution witnesses from Rwanda, especially women", and allowing defence lawyers to tarnish the name of Ibuka and its members by calling them "witness syndicates".

Meanwhile, a defense investigator, Pierre Karangwa, was suspended last week for his alleged involvement in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Internews reported. Karangwa is investigator for the defence team of Augustin Ndindiliyimana, a former chief of staff of para-military police awaiting trial at the tribunal.