You are here

News

Four detainees to be transferred from Cameroon to Arusha

President of Cameroon Paul Biya has signed four decrees authorizing the transfer from Yaoundé to the UN Detention Facility in Arusha of four persons indicted by the Tribunal.

The four detained in Cameroon are Théoneste Bagosora, André Ntagerura, Ferdinand Nahimana and Anatole Nsengiyumva.

Théoneste Bagosora was arrested in Cameroon on 9 March 1996 and his arrest warrant was served to the Government of Cameroon on 11 August 1996. He is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and of Additional Protocol II. He is accused of serious violations of humanitarian international law, committed throughout the territory of Rwanda, from January to July 1994, in the course of which thousands of men, women and children were killed and a great number of people injured. Théoneste Bagosora was born on 16 August 1941 in the; Republic of Rwanda. In June 1992 he was appointed Chief of Cabinet at the Ministry of Defense. He was still serving in this office on 6 ApriI1994 when the plane of the Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana crashed. Following the crash he assumed “de facto” control of military and political affairs in Rwanda.

André Ntagerura was arrested in Cameroon on 27 March 1996 and his arrest warrant was served to the Government of Cameroon on 11 August 1996. He is charged with genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and of Additional Protocol II. André Ntagerura was born on 2 June 1950 in the Republic of Rwanda. During the period referred to in this indictment. He was Minister of Transport and Communications and a prominent member of the ruling party, the Mouvement républicain pour la democratie et le développement (MNRD) to which the lnterahamwe militia was affiliated.

Ferdinand Nahimana was arrested in Cameroon on 27 March 1996 and his arrest warrant was served to the Government of Cameroon on 15 July 1996. He is charged with conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide and crimes against humanity. He was born on 15 July 1950 and was a senior representative of RTLM, Radio Television des Milles Collines. RTLM was used to broadcase messages to achieve inter-ethnic hatred and encourage the population to kill, commit acts of violence and persecutions against the Tutsi population and others on political grounds.

Anatole Nsengiyumva was arrested in Cameroon on 27 March 1996 and his arrest warrant was served to the Government of Cameroon on 15 July 1996. He is charged with direct and public incitement to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and article 3 common to the Geneva conventions and of Additional protocol II. He was born on 4 September 1950. At the time of the events referred to in his indictment, he was a lieutenant Colonel in the Rwanda Armed Forces and served as commander of military operations in Gisenyi prefecture.

After they have been transferred, the four indicted will appear before the Tribunal and asked to plead guilty or not guilty and their trials will be scheduled.

In total the Tribunal has indicted 21 persons. 13 are in custody, seven of them in the UN Detention Facility in Arusha. Following the transfer of the four detained in Cameroon, there will be two persons in custody outside Arusha, Elizaphan Ntakirutimana in the United States and Alfred Musema, whose transfer to Arusha has been agreed to by the Swiss Government.

The first trial of Jean-Peal Akayesu opened today, 9 January in Arusha and will be followed by six other trials scheduled up to August 1997.

For information only - Not an official document

UN-ICTR External Relations and Communication Outreach Unit
ictr-press@un.org | Tel.: +1 212 963 2850
www.unictr.org