Fourth genocide case file sent to Rwanda court

ARUSHA, Tanzania (AFP) - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is to transfer a fourth case file of a genocide suspect to the Rwandan courts as part of its winding up strategy, court papers showed Wednesday.

The case is that of fugitive former mayor of Nyakizu, Ladislas Ntaganzwa.

The three cases already transferred to Rwanda by the UN-backed tribunal are Jean Uwinkindi, a pastor who was physically sent to Rwanda in April, and two other files of suspects who are still on the run.

Those are former criminal investigation department inspector Fulgence Kayishema, and another former mayor, Charles Sikubwabo.

If the fugitives are arrested they will be extradited to Rwanda.

The transfer of cases to national jurisdictions is part of the ICTR's plan to wind up lower court cases by June and appeals by 2014.

Some 800,000 people, for the most part Tutsis, were killed in the 1994 Rwanda genocide. The ICTR was set up to try the main perpetrators.

While the masterminds have been tried at the ICTR, other perpetrators have been tried either in the Rwandan court system or before the grass roots tribunals known as gacacas.