Tanzania releases UN Rwanda Tribunal defence counsel without giving reason for arrest

Tanzanian authorities have released a defence lawyer serving before the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), but they have provided the tribunal with no explanation for why they took the man into custody, the court said today.

Yesterday the Tribunal expressed concern about arrest of Calixte Gakwaya, the leading defence counsel in the trial of Yusuf Munyakasi, last Friday in Arusha, where the ICTR is based.

Mr. Gakwaya was released yesterday morning but only after “undertakings were made by private persons to the Tanzanian police,” the ICTR said in a news release.

Yesterday the ICTR’s registrar, Adama Deng, expressed to Tanzanian authorities his strong concern about the arrest, noting that the UN and Tanzania have agreed on certain immunities for lawyers representing those brought before the Tribunal.

Mr. Deng also stressed that Mr. Gakwaya had travelled to Arusha in his official capacity as Counsel for the accused.