The Appeals Chamber of the ICTR, sitting at The Hague, has ordered the Registrar to withdraw the assignment of Mr Justry P. L. Nyaberi as counsel for Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza with immediate effect and to assign him new counsel and co-counsel. This decision effectively overrules the decision of the President of the Tribunal confirming the Registrar`s refusal to withdraw Mr Nyaberi’s mandate (see Press Release No 217 of 19 January 2000).

The Appeals Chamber also ordered the postponement of the hearing of the Prosecutor’s motion for review of its decision of 3 November 1999. By that decision the Appeals Chamber quashed the indictment in Barayagwiza’s case and ordered him to be transferred to the authorities of Cameroon, where he had been arrested. The hearing will now take place in Arusha on Tuesday 22 February 2000. However, recognizing the concerns of the President and the defendant himself that that hearing should not be unduly delayed, Mr Barayagwiza, assisted by his new lawyer, is allowed only until 17 February 2000 to submit a fresh reply to the Prosecutor’s motion, failing which the Chamber will proceed on the basis of the document submitted by Mr Nyaberi.