Lieutenant-Colonel Tharcisse Muvunyi, a commander in the former Rwandese army in the

southern prefecture of Butare, was arrested in London on 5 February following the issuing of an

international warrant by the ICTR seeking his surrender. He faces charges of genocide and crimes

against humanity.

Muvunyi's arrest follows the arrest of General Augustin Ndindiliyimana, former Chief of

Staff of the Gendarmerie, in Belgium on 31 January, again at the request of the ICTR. The ICTR has

charged Ndindiliyimana with genocide, complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity.

Amnesty International welcomes both the UK and Belgian authorities' co-operation with the

ICTR and their quick response to the arrest warrants.

Other countries have also recently taken steps towards greater cooperation with the ICTR. In

November 1999 former government minister Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda was arrested in France on the

request of the ICTR and in January 2000, the Supreme Court in the USA declined to hear a challenge

to the surrender of Pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana to the ICTR. Both still remain under arrest though

they have not yet been transferred to the ICTR's detention centre in Arusha.

'These arrests reaffirm the principles of international justice and the importance of providing

financial, political and moral support to the ICTR and the International Criminal Tribunal for the

former Yugoslavia (ICTY),' the organisation stressed.

Each of these four countries has enacted legislation permitting the arrest and transfer of

individuals accused of these crimes to these tribunals. Sadly however, most countries have still failed

to fulfil their obligations under international law to do so. Amnesty International renews its call on all

states to enact the necessary legislation.

'The continuing work of the ICTR, the arrest of Augusto Pinochet in London in October

1998 and the recent criminal proceedings brought against the former President of Chad, Hissein

Habre, in Senegal, hopefully signal a new determination by states to fulfil their international legal

obligations to help secure justice for the victims of human rights violations.'

Background

The ICTR, which sits in Arusha, Tanzania, was established in November 1994 to try those accused of

perpetrating genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rwanda in 1994, when as many as

one million people were massacred.

To date seven individuals have been sentenced to prison terms by the ICTR.

*It is important to distinguish a state's obligation under international law to surrender to an

international criminal tribunal a person suspected of a crime under international law from the

extradition of a person from one state to another. The UN Security Council resolutions establishing

the ICTR and ICTY and the Statute of the International Criminal Court place an international

obligation on states to arrest and transfer individuals who are sought by these tribunals for

international crimes such as genocide and crimes against humanity. States cannot refuse to comply

with such a request. While the existence of domestic legislation for cooperation between a state and

the tribunals establishes procedures and provides a clear legal basis for such transfers, states which do

not have such legislation have previously transferred suspects to the ICTR.

The extradition of a person sought for crimes committed in another country is dependent

largely on the existence of an extradition agreement between the two states, and is done in accordance

with domestic extradition laws which establish procedures, including independent judicial scrutiny.

A request for extradition may be refused if the state which is requested to hand over the person fears

that he or she may suffer human rights violations such as torture or the death penalty, or if the person

is being sought for a political offence.