French police have arrested a former officer in the Rwandan army, Marcel Bivugabagabo, accused of taking part in the 1994 genocide, an association of legal plaintiffs said on Wednesday. Bivugabagabo (53) is on the list of war criminals wanted for trial by the Rwandan government.
The legal team of arrested Gauteng Scorpions boss Gerrie Nel began an urgent application in the Pretoria High Court on Wednesday for his release. ”The police did not play open cards when they asked for his arrest,” said Nel’s lawyer Ian Small Smith shortly before the application.
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla on Monday rejected as ”untrue” reports that she had delayed the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) decision on whether or not to charge police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi. The NPA ”does not have to get any permission from the minister”, said Mabandla’s spokesperson.
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla had studied the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) decision on whether police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi ”had a case to answer”, her spokesperson said on Friday. Zolile Nqayi said the minister had studied the report last year.
The public were on Wednesday still being kept in the dark over the fate of South Africa’s police National Commissioner, Jackie Selebi. The National Prosecuting Authority said it had made a decision on whether or not Selebi ”had a case to answer”. However, the decision would not be made public until it was studied by the minister of justice and constitutional development.
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/ 27 December 2007
South African prosecutors are likely to wait at least two weeks before deciding whether to file charges against the new African National Congress president and the country’s police chief, a newspaper said on Thursday. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) recently said it had enough evidence to re-charge ANC president Jacob Zuma.
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/ 2 November 2007
Police seized cocaine valued at about R50-million at OR Tambo International Airport on Friday. Spokesperson Captain Dennis Adriao said the drugs had been found on a plane from Brazil. He said the bust brought the number of drug finds at the airport to four in the space of three weeks.
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/ 1 November 2007
FĂ©licien Kabuga has a reward of several million dollars on his head, and tops the list of fugitives of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Yet, he’s managed to escape justice for years. The ICTR was set up in northern Tanzania by the United Nations in 1995 to bring high-level perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide to justice.
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/ 24 October 2007
More sex-crimes charges were filed on Wednesday against a suspected Canadian paedophile captured last week following a global manhunt, Thai police said. Christopher Paul Neil (32) was arrested in Thailand on Friday following a worldwide search led by Interpol to track down a man seen in 200 internet photos abusing a dozen Asian boys.
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/ 20 October 2007
Canadian paedophile suspect Christopher Neil has denied charges that he molested underage children in Thailand, police said on Saturday, a day after a global manhunt ended with his arrest in a dusty Thai town. A Thai court ordered Neil detained for another 12 days for further investigation.
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/ 19 October 2007
Rwanda called on France on Friday to extradite a Rwandan wanted for his alleged role in the country’s 1994 genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Dominique Ntawukuriryayo, a former sub-prefect during the mass killings, was arrested by French police in Carcassonne, south-west France.
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/ 19 October 2007
Canadian paedophile suspect Christopher Neil, unmasked by nifty computer work by German police and a unique Interpol internet appeal, was arrested in rural Thailand on Friday. Police said they had picked up the 32-year-old, accused of raping young boys in Vietnam and Cambodia several years ago, in the province of Nakhon Ratchasima.
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/ 16 October 2007
Cambodian police said on Tuesday a suspected serial paedophile being hunted by Interpol across Asia was a Canadian national called Christopher Paul Neil, born in 1975. Keo Vanthan, deputy director of Interpol offices in the impoverished South-east Asian nation, said Neil had visited Cambodia before leaving for Vietnam.
Police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi’s office has rejected claims that police regulations require Selebi’s suspension while allegations against him are being investigated. Selebi’s spokesperson Director Sally de Beer said on Tuesday a Freedom Front Plus statement in this regard was incorrect.
Interpol on Monday launched an unprecedented worldwide public appeal as part of a hunt for a prolific paedophile it says has appeared in around 200 images on the internet sexually abusing boys who could be as young as six in Vietnam and Cambodia.
In a first, Interpol appealed on Monday for public help to identify a suspected paedophile who was shown in photos posted on the internet sexually abusing young boys in Vietnam and Cambodia. The police organisation said German specialists succeeded in producing identifiable images of the man from the original pictures.
South African President Thabo Mbeki came under mounting pressure over the weekend to explain his suspension of the country’s top prosecutor, a controversial move weeks before a crunch vote on his leadership of the African National Congress (ANC).
The trial of Cezanne Visser, also known as ”Advocate Barbie”, has once again been delayed because no judge was available to preside in the case. The defence and the state were only informed this week that no judge had been assigned to the case. Judge Khami Makhafola provisionally postponed Visser’s trial to October 12 to allow the state to arrange for the appointment of a judge.
There were a number of instances where a breakdown in the working relationship with Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla was discussed with suspended National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli. This is according to government spokesperson Themba Maseko, who was speaking at a press conference in Pretoria on Monday.
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/ 30 September 2007
The suspension of South Africa’s National Director of Public Prosecutions amid silence by President Thabo Mbeki has led to concerns of government meddling in the country’s justice system. Mbeki’s integrity came under fire as his suspension of National Prosecuting Authority chief Vusi Pikoli was linked to the alleged pending arrest of police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi.
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/ 27 September 2007
A warrant of arrest has been issued for police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reported on Thursday. The state broadcaster said it had reliably learnt that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) obtained the warrant. NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali would not comment on the report late on Thursday afternoon.
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/ 25 September 2007
<b>CD OF THE MONTH:</b> The National’s new album is an instant classic, writes Lloyd Gedye.
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/ 25 September 2007
President Thabo Mbeki is about to act against police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi, the Cape Argus reported on Tuesday. An inquiry into claims that Selebi had links with crime syndicates would be Mbeki’s second major step following the suspension of National Prosecuting Authority head Vusi Pikoli, the newspaper said.
Vlakplaas and the first church of the Nama people in the country are to be declared heritage sites, the South African Heritage Resources Agency said on Thursday. Chief executive Phakamani Buthelezi said the declaration of these sites formed part of the agency’s five-year strategic plan. He was addressing the media at the Johannesburg Press Club.
Self-conscious and Edgars-chic, The Black Hotels have stormed on to Jo’burg’s live music scene, writes Lloyd Gedye.