The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) completed its third plenary session in the Hague at the Headquarters of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on Friday 5 July.

The 11 Judges of ICTR (the six Judges of the two Trial Chambers and the five Judges of the Appeals Chamber for the two Tribunals, Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia) met from 1-5 July 1996 to discuss various aspects relating to the operation of the Tribunal.

In particular the Judges approved:

The Regulations to Govern the Supervision of Visits to, and Communications with, the Detainees. A detainee has the right to send and receive mail to or from any person, including their family, and to make and receive phone calls. Visitors to the detention unit are allowed, pending permission from the Registrar.

The Regulations for the Establishment of a Disciplinary Procedure for Detainees. Disciplinary offences such as failure to obey an order or possession of illegal objects will be punished.

The Judges of the ICTR also discussed and amended a number of rules of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Tribunal.

Finally, the Judges approved the Annual Report of the ICTR which will be submitted by the President, Judge Laïty Kama, to the United Nations General Assembly in the autumn of 1996.