BRIEF OF THE LAWYERS COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ASAMICUS CURIAE
In the Matter of the Surrender of Elizaphan Ntakirutima
United States District Court
Southern District of Texas Laredo Division
Statement of Facts and Procedural History
The Lawyers Committee relies on the statement of facts and procedural history set out in the Government's Memorandum in Support of Request for Surrender ("Gov't Mem.").
I. The Legal Basis For The United States' Request ToSurrender Respondent To The Rwanda Tribunal
On November 8, 1994, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 955, establishing "an international tribunal for the sole purpose of prosecuting persons responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of Rwanda . . . between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994." U.N.S.C. Res. 955 (Nov. 8 1994), at 1, reprinted in 33 I.L.M. 1598 (1994). The statute governing the Rwanda Tribunal (the "Tribunal Statute"), which is annexed to Resolution 955, requires member states of the United Nations to "comply without undue delay with any request for . . . the surrender or transfer of the accused to the International Tribunal for Rwanda." Tribunal Statute, Art. 28, §§1, 2(e), reprinted in 33 I.L.M. 1598, 1612 (1994).
To carry out its obligations under Resolution 955, on January 24, 1995, the United States entered into an agreement with the Rwanda Tribunal, called the Agreement on Surrender of Persons Between the Government of the United States and the International Tribunal for Rwanda (the "Surrender Agreement"), by which the United States agreed "to surrender to the Tribunal, persons . . . found in its territory whom the Tribunal has charged with or found guilty of a violation or violations within the competence of the Tribunal."
On February 10, 1996, Congress passed, and the President signed into law, legislation to implement the Surrender Agreement. Section 1342(a)(1) of Public Law No. 104-106 provides that, aside from certain limited exceptions concerning admissible evidence and payments of fees and costs:
[T]he provisions of chapter 209 of title 18, United States Code, relating to the extradition of persons to a foreign country pursuant to a treaty or convention for extradition between the United States and a foreign government [18 U.S.C. §§ 3181 et seq.], shall apply in the same manner and extent to the surrender of persons, including Untied States citizens, to . . . the International Tribunal for Rwanda, pursuant to the [Surrender] Agreement . . . .
Pub. L. No. 104-106, Div. A, Title XIII, § 1342(a)(1), 110 Stat. 486 (Feb. 10, 1996). Among the provisions of Title 18 of the United States Code made applicable to surrender proceedings brought under section 1342(a)(1) is 18 U.S.C. § 3184, which authorizes the judge to issue a warrant for the arrest of the individual sought, to hold a hearing to consider the request for surrender, and, if the judge finds there is a sufficient basis for the request, to certify to the Secretary of State that the individual may be surrendered.
