UN tribunal refers genocide case to Rwanda courts

A chamber at the UN war crimes court for Rwanda on Tuesday for the first time decided to refer the case of one of its detainees, a pentecostal pastor, for trial in the Rwandan courts. "The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) today (Tuesday) referred the case of Jean Uwinkindi to the Republic of Rwanda to be tried in the Rwandan national court system," the court said in a statement. The chamber "expressed its solemn hope that ... Rwanda would actualize in practice the commitments it made in its filings about its good faith, capacity and willingness to enforce the highest standards of international justice." Uwinkindi can however still appeal against the referral. The first five requests to refer cases to the Rwandan courts were rejected by the ICTR judges who said conditions were not yet in place for a fair trial. On November 10, the ICTR chief prosecutor Hassan Bubacar Jallow filed three new transfer requests, including the one for Uwinkindi, saying that Rwanda now meets all the conditions. The UN Security Council, on December 22, 2010 in Resolution 1966 asked the court to look into all the ways of referring cases, in order to respect its deadline for wrapping up all of its cases in 2014.