Rwanda Genocide Trials Extended to 2009

The UN has extended the mandate of a special court established to try the suspected perpetrators of Rwanda's 1994 genocide until 2009. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was expected to complete all trials by the end of this year, and finalize all appeals by 2010. ICTR spokesman Timothy Gallimore confirmed Tuesday that court’s mandate had been extended by one year, possibly because some of the key suspects, such as Hutu millionaire Felicien Kabuga, were still at large. The court was established in 1994 to try the suspected masterminds behind the genocidal killing of an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus within 100 days. [PE]