UN Defends Rwanda Tribunal (£550 Million To Convict 25 People)

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 6-24-2006 | Mike Pflanz

[blam]

UN defends Rwanda tribunal

By Mike Pflanz in Arusha
(Filed: 24/06/2006)

The United Nations court prosecuting the ringleaders of Rwanda's genocide has had to defend itself after taking 12 years and spending almost £550 million to convict only 25 people.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) promised at its inception in 1994 to indict some 700 senior politicians, government officials, clergymen and journalists accused of orchestrating the genocide. As the full scale of the task became obvious, and amid repeated claims of inefficiency, that figure was reduced to 300.

Only 72 people have been arrested and 25 convicted. A further 27 "genocidaires", among them former military chiefs and government ministers, are on trial. Fourteen more are waiting for their hearings to start.

By the end of 2007 it will have cost UN member states, including Britain, roughly £20 million per prosecution if the remaining cases lead to convictions.

"What happened in Rwanda was an affront to the whole world and as such the international community had a responsibility to make sure that justice was done fairly," said Hassan Bubacar Jallow, the ICTR's chief prosecutor.

By its nature, the process of the prosecutions is slow. Each question, objection, statement and cross-examination must be translated between French, English and the Rwandan language Kinyarwandan.

[rod1]

I thought it was 550 pounds and for the only time in my life was about to defend a UN action as being generally ineffective but at least not riddled with graft and payola. Obviously, when the million sign is added to 550 million pounds, I don't have to worry about the UN breaking with its criminal tradition.

[silverleaf]

100 days, 800,000 murdered. Got to be more than 25 gullty people.

[NonValueAdded]

and journalists accused of orchestrating the genocide!!!

[managusta]

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is much worse.The two-year budget for the IFCY Tribunal for 2004 and 2005 was $271,854,600 (USD).

Wikipedia states "As of March 16, 2006, the ICTY had indicted 161 persons.The cases against 85 of the indicted had been concluded: 43 were found guilty, 8 acquitted, 25 had their indictments withdrawn, and six had died - 3 of these in custody, 3 while on parole. Four cases had been sent to national courts for trial. 15 of those convicted had completed their sentences and been released by March 2006."

Never mind the "We haven't caught Bin Laden yet crowd". The Clinton administration has not caught Radovan Karadzic yet.
They began looking for him in 1993 and Serbia is a lot smaller than Afghanistan.