[opiniojuris] Julian Ku: French Court Frees Rwandans Sought by ICTR

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Posted by Julian Ku:
French Court Frees Rwandans Sought by ICTR
http://www.opiniojuris.org/posts/1186175567.shtml


   Another little news item that I forgot to post about this week: A
   court of appeals in Paris on Wednesday released two Rwandans from
   custody despite acknowledging both were the subject of [1]arrest
   warrants issued by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
   (ICTR). Not surprisingly, the Rwandan government (already barely on
   speaking terms with the French government) is not happy about this. I
   donât have a copy of the opinion (which is in French anyway, I
   suppose), but the sketchy news reports I have seen suggest the French
   court released the two accused because detaining and trying the two
   Rwandans in these circumstances would violate Franceâs law requiring
   the presumption of innocence. I donât quite see how that issue is
   raised, unless it is the fact that Rwanda has already tried and
   convicted one of the accused in absentia, but I would need to know
   more about the circumstances surrounding their detention. (Some
   background can be found [2]here).
   Either way, it is somewhat surprising that France is refusing to carry
   out its obligations to assist the ICTR under [3]Article 28 of the ICTR
   Statute. This provision requires France to âcooperate with the
   International Tribunal for Rwanda in the investigation and prosecution
   of persons accused of committing serious violations of international
   humanitarian law.â Such cooperation must occur âwithout undue delayâ
   and includes âthe arrest or detention of persons;â and âthe surrender
   or the transfer of the accused to the International Tribunal for
   Rwanda.â
   The procedure here is a bit trickier because France was supposed to
   take over the prosecutions of the individuals in order to relieve the
   ICTR of the case. Indeed, various French courts have been
   investigating the two accused for many years. So maybe there is a
   domestic French law wrinkle I donât know about here. Or maybe, as
   Rwandaâs government has thundered, this is just a âpoliticalâ
   decision. Neither the ICTR nor the Rwandan government is all that
   credible on these matters, but France has got some explaining to do.

References

   1. http://69.94.11.53/FRENCH/cases/Munyeshyaka/indictment/munyeshyaka_ind_fr.pdf
   2. http://www.trial-ch.org/en/trial-watch/profile/db/legal-procedures/wenceslas_munyeshyaka_112.html
   3. http://69.94.11.53/ENGLISH/basicdocs/statute.html