Rwanda tribunal seeks to move trials

NAIROBI, Kenya, June 18 (UPI) -- As the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda struggles to meet a 2008 deadline to complete its work, prosecutors are seeking to move some of the trials.

The tribunal is based in Arusha, Tanzania. The prosecutor asked Monday to have at least 16 cases heard in Rwanda and said several more defendants should be tried in Europe, Voice of America reported.

Set up 10 years ago, the tribunal is supposed to finish trying 90 people allegedly involved in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda by the end of next year. Eighteen of those indicted are fugitives, while 28 people have been convicted and five acquitted.

A spokesman at a news conference in Kenya said many of those acquitted or who have completed sentences remain in Tanzania because no country can be found to accept them. The tribunal has been paying their living expenses.