About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

40 Hum. Rts. Q. 989 (2018)
Politics or Pragmatism? The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the Burying of the Investigation into the Assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana

handle is hein.journals/hurq40 and id is 1011 raw text is: HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY Politics or Pragmatism? The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the Burying of the Investigation into the Assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana Luc Reydams ABSTRACT A persistent rumor about the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is that politics played a role in the decision in 1997 of then Chief Prosecutor Louise Arbour to end the investigation into the assassination of Rwandan President Juv6nal Habyarimana. The article examines whether there is any truth to this rumor and, alternatively, whether more mundane reasons may explain the burying of the investigation. On the basis of interviews and email correspondence with the persons who might have pressured Arbour and with the former Chief-Prosecutor herself, the article concludes that there is no evidence that the US government or the UN Secretariat intervened. Arbour's decision seems to have been based on an assessment of the concrete conditions at the time. These were such that any responsible Prosecutor would have concluded that pursuing the investigation would be futile and dangerous. Because the truth about the assassination remains unknown, the article ends by suggesting a way to finish the ICTR's unfinished business. Luc Reydams is Professor of Law at the Catholic University of Lublin (Poland) and Associate Professor of the Practice in the Department of Political Science of the University of Notre Dame (USA). The article was researched with the financial support of the United States Insti- tute of Peace (USIP-020-13F). The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Institute of Peace. Send comments to lreydams@nd.edu. Human Rights Quarterly 40 (2018) 989-1013 © 2018 by Johns Hopkins University Press

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most