Trial attorney at UN Rwanda war crimes tribunal resigns

The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) said today that a trial attorney in the Prosecutor's Office has resigned after apparently failing to disclose criminal charges made against him two years before he joined the court.

The prosecutor, Bongani Dyani of South Africa, turned in his resignation from the Prosecutor's Office on 1 June, just days after the Tribunal began looking into allegations that he had been charged with attempted murder and robbery in 2001, the Tribunal said in a statement.

Mr. Dyani obtained his employment at the Prosecutor's Office "by lying and falsifying information," the statement said, strongly condemning his conduct.

Mr. Dyani was formerly employed by the National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa as a Public Prosecutor stationed at Zwelitsha, a magisterial district in Eastern Cape province.

On 25 May 2005, the Office of the Prosecutor received a letter from the Deputy National Director of the National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa, drawing the attention of the ICTR to the fact that in 2001, the Director of Public Prosecutions of South Africa under whose direct control and supervision Mr. Dyani fell, had instituted criminal proceedings against him (and his co-accused who has since died) in the Regional Court in East London in Eastern Cape province.

Because of the seriousness of these allegations against Mr. Dyani, his delegation to prosecute was withdrawn by the Director of Public Prosecutions pending the outcome of the criminal prosecution. In the face of the allegations, and after the withdrawal of his delegation to prosecute, Mr. Dyani resigned from the National Prosecuting Authority as a Public Prosecutor.

At the time of his recruitment late in 2003, Mr. Dyani had declared to the Tribunal in writing that he had neither been arrested nor charged, nor convicted of any crime. He had also failed to disclose that his authority as a prosecutor in South Africa had been withdrawn, the ICTR said.

Mr. Dyani was specifically asked to state whether the allegations were true and to explain why he had not disclosed them in his application for the vacancy in 2003. He was asked to provide a written response by 30 May, but failed to do so, the ICTR added.