Judges named to finish Rwanda court's tasks

ARUSHA, Tanzania, May 7 (UPI) -- Nine judges were sworn in Monday as a panel that will finish the work of the U.N. tribunal dealing with war crimes committed in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

The U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, based in Arusha, Tanzania, set up the International Residual Mechanism in 2010, mandating that it take over and finish remaining tasks of the tribunal when it shuts down after its mandate expires this year, the United Nations said in a release.

The mechanism will begin operations July 1 and is scheduled to complete most of its work by the end of 2014, the United Nations said.

Judge Theodor Meron, president of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, said setting up the mechanism was critical to maintaining protections for the rights of victims, witnesses and persons tried by the Rwandan panel and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Meron said establishing the mechanism ensures that the closure of the two tribunals won't leave the door open to impunity for defendants whose trials or appeals have not been completed.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was created after the Rwandan genocide during which at least 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed during three months of slaughter following the death of then-President Juvenal Habyarimana when his plane was brought down over, Kigali, Rwanda's capital.