Defense lawyer at UN Rwanda genocide tribunal shot dead in Tanzania with nephew and neighbor
By APThursday, July 15, 2010
Rwanda genocide tribunal defense lawyer shot dead
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — Tanzanian police say they’re investigating the killing of a defense lawyer for a U.N. tribunal in northern Tanzania that tries suspects in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.
Police commander Charles Kenyela said Thursday Tanzanian lawyer Jwani Mwaikusa was shot Tuesday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s economic hub. Police said his nephew and a neighbor were also killed.
A recent string of deaths and shootings have drawn attention to Rwanda ahead of its August presidential vote. An opposition leader and a local journalist were killed, and assailants last month shot a dissident general exiled in South Africa, but he survived.
In May, another tribunal defense lawyer, American Peter Erlinder, was arrested in Rwanda and accused of minimizing the genocide. He was released in June.
