DM Monitoring
UNITED NATIONS: Judge Carmel Agius, the president of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), on Wednesday asked UN member states to intensify their support for the arrest and surrender of the remaining fugitives indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
The prosecutor of the mechanism and his team are engaging in intensive efforts to find the fugitives. These individuals will only be brought to justice with the sustained assistance and genuine commitment of member states, he told the UN General Assembly.
The IRMCT deals with cases left over by the UN tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda.
Agius lauded the arrest of Felicien Kabuga in France in May 2020 in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, after Kabuga had been on the run for more than 20 years.
Kabuga’s arrest would not have been possible without the outstanding collaboration of law enforcement and judicial authorities of France, as well as Austria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Rwanda, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States and others, together with Europol and Interpol, he said.
“I wish to commend (IRMCT) Prosecutor (Serge) Brammertz and his excellent team for this impressive achievement, which is a prominent example of what can be accomplished when states and international organizations join forces to uphold the rule of law and end impunity for mass atrocity crimes.”
Agius also commended 15 states for their cooperation with regard to the enforcement of sentences for the convicted.
Agius said the IRMCT’s work has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before the pandemic took hold, the mechanism was on track to conclude most of its ongoing judicial caseload by the end of this year. However, as the global health crisis unfolded and as various restrictions and measures were put in place, the envisaged timelines for case completion were interrupted and delayed. Nevertheless, the mechanism remained operational throughout, and undeterred in its commitment to continue delivering results, he said.
