Abstract
A transcript of an interview with Jean-Pelé Fomété by Linda Carter and Leigh Swigart. The interview took place on May 26, 2015 at The Hague, Netherlands, and the transcript, which is represented here, has been reviewed and edited from the original audio version. During the interview, Fomété reminisces on early work at ICTY; disgruntlement with early negative evaluations of the ICTR; ICTR underestimation of how long trials would take; difficulties using United Nations procedures and accounting for persons needing to remain anonymous; traveling to Cameroon to carry out arrest warrant of ICTR accused André Ntagerura; willingness of the Malian authorities to accept ICTR convicted persons into their prisons; power of the Arusha "spirit" that infused ICTR staff, and taking lessons learned at ICTR to job as UN Dispute Tribunal registrar. Fomété also discusses events in Africa around time of Rwandan genocide; similarities between conflicts in Balkans and Rwanda; disparity in infrastructure between ICTY and ICTR; creation of ICTR press center; ICTR innovations in court transcription and interpretation practices; institutional cooperation among ICTY, ICTR, Special Court for Sierra Leone, and later International Criminal Court; ICTR innovation of combining distributive with retributive justice; civil and common law interactions; challenges of delivering justice while building a system; resistance of countries to host ICTR acquitted persons; improvement of prison conditions in countries where ICTR convicted persons served sentences, and development of ICTR outreach program.