Searching for the Fugitives

The establishment of the Mechanism is a key step in the Completion Strategies of the two tribunals. The tracking, arrest and prosecution of the remaining fugitives indicted by the ICTR is a top priority for the Mechanism. Of the 93 persons indicted by the ICTR, two remain at large. The ICTR Prosecutor has requested referrals to Rwanda in the cases of these fugitives: Charles Sikubwabo and Charles Ryandikayo.

 

Fugitives poster

Unlike national systems, the Mechanism has no police force and no powers of arrest. It remains reliant on the cooperation of national governments to arrest fugitives. Under the Mechanism’s Statute, member states are obliged to cooperate unconditionally and to comply with requests for assistance and orders of the Mechanism.

The Mechanism's Office of the Prosecutor has a tracking team that is responsible for gathering intelligence on the whereabouts and activities of the fugitives and providing support to national law enforcement authorities in arresting them.

The work of the Tracking team involves severe challenges: the strategies of the fugitives for evading justice include not only identity changes but also a constant mobility across a large belt of East, Central and Southern Africa, and inaccessible areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The collaboration of the states in which the fugitives are suspected to be taking refuge is crucial in order to succeed in apprehending those individuals.

 

Fugitives to be tried by the Rwandan judiciary

 
 
 
 
       
      • Ryandikayo, Charles
      • Date of birth: around 1961
      • Function: a businessman in Mubuga secteur, Gishyita commune; a member of the political party Mouvement Démocratique Républicain (MDR) – Power Faction
      • Crimes indicted for: genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, crimes against humanity (extermination, murder, persecution, rape)
      • At large since: 28 November 1995
      • Case transferred: 20 June 2012
      • Warrant of arrest | Case information sheet
      • Sikubwabo, Charles
      • Date of birth: early to mid-1940s
      • Function: Bourgmestre (mayor) of Gishyita in the Kibuye Prefecture
      • Crimes indicted for: genocide, complicity in genocide (in the alternative to genocide), conspiracy to commit genocide, crimes against humanity (murder, extermination and other inhumane acts)
      • At large since: 28 November 1995
      • Case transferred: 26 March 2012
      • Warrant of arrest | Case information sheet