UN Security Council reappoints Prosecutor Serge Brammertz and completes review of Mechanism’s progress of work

The United Nations Security Council, by resolution 2529 (2020), yesterday reappointed Prosecutor Serge Brammertz to a new term as Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism), with effect from 1 July 2020 until 30 June 2022. Prosecutor Brammertz has served as Prosecutor of the Mechanism since 1 March 2016. Previously, he served as Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) from 1 January 2008 until its closure at the end of 2017.

The Security Council further completed its review of the progress of the work of the Mechanism since the last review in June 2018, welcoming the report of the Mechanism in this regard.

In its resolution, the Security Council also welcomed the arrest in France on 16 May 2020 of Félicien Kabuga, indicted for genocide and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Rwanda in 1994. It commended the Mechanism Office of the Prosecutor for its cooperation with law enforcement and judicial authorities in France, as well as Rwanda, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the United States, Switzerland and others, together with EUROPOL and INTERPOL, which contributed to locating and to the arrest of the fugitive.

Looking forward, the Security Council urged all States to cooperate fully with the Mechanism, in particular to achieve the arrest and surrender of all remaining fugitives indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) as soon as possible, and to assist in the relocation of acquitted and released persons currently located in the Republic of Tanzania.