Dr. Casimir Bizimungu, a medical doctor who at different times was Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Health in Rwanda and is suspected of genocide-related crimes, was transferred to the ICTR detention facilities in Arusha today.

Bizimungu is yet to be formally charged. He was arrested in Nairobi on 11 February 1999 on the basis of a Rule 40bis order for his transfer and provisional detention issued by Judge William Sekule of the ICTR's Trial Chamber II. Under this rule, the Prosecutor can request a State to arrest a suspect and place him in custody if a Judge of the Tribunal is satisfied that preliminary material points to the accused as having possibly committed a crime within the Tribunal's jurisdiction. Such an order may also be issued where the Judge considers provisional detention a necessary measure to prevent the escape of the suspect or to be necessary for the conduct of the investigations.

Mr. Bizimungu was Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Government of the late Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and served as Minister of Health in the Interim Government of Jean Kambanda at the time of the genocide in 1994. He is from Ruhengeri in North Western Rwanda.