Steven Kay KC and Gillian Higgins as Pro Bono Counsel to Alfred Musema before the International Residual Mechanism For Criminal Tribunals (MICT) filed a motion last month to challenge a search and seizure operation which took place on 16th August 2024 in the Akpro-Misserete Prison in Benin.
The Prison Director had ordered the search of ICTR detainees’ cells in the early hours of the morning that led to the confiscation of laptops, scanners, printers, external hard drives and USBs from their cells. These electronic devices had been permitted to be possessed and used by the detainees for many years in the various places of detention they had been placed since their detention by the ICTR in Arusha.
The motion requests the President of the MICT to order the Registrar of the Mechanism to require the Benin Prison Authorities to return all equipment to the detainees. In the alternative, a request is made for the urgent transfer of Alfred Musema to another host country such as Senegal in order to protect his post-conviction rights and uphold the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Mandela Rules).
Read the motion here
