The six months contract for the Judge who has, on several occasions, been accused of unfair decisions in granting early release of genocide masterminds takes effective July 1st 2018 and will expire on January 18th 2019.
A statement by MICT says that Guterres also appointed Judge Carmel Agius as Meron successor effective from January 19th 2019 until June 30th 2020.
The 88-year old judge heads MICT, the UN court mandated to try masterminds of the Genocide against the Tutsi since 2012.
The MICT took over the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
In 2016, Meron granted early release to Ferdinand Nahimana, the co-founder of hate outlet, Radio Television des Mille Collines (RTLM) and Fr. Rukundo who had been sentenced to 30 and 23 years in prison respectively.
The American Judge is also in process of granting early release of Col. Aloys Simba, Dominique Ntawukuriryayo and Hassan Ngeze after serving two thirds of their sentence.
Meron also acquitted genocide planners like Protais Zigiranyirazo, Justin Mugenzi, Prosper Mugiraneza, Gen. Augustin Ndindiriyimana and Major François Xavier Nzuwonemeye.
In appeal decision, Meron reduced sentence to genocide mastermind Colonel Théoneste Bagosora from life sentence to 35 years in prison.
He also reduced sentence to Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva and Capt. Ildephonse Nizeyimana, so far, Nsengiyumva has been released after serving his short sentence he was handed.
A statement by MICT continues to say that the Secretary-General also reappointed 23 of the 24 Judges of the Mechanism who were seeking reappointment for a new, two-year term, commencing on July 1st 2018 and expiring on June 30th 2020.
From March 2001, when he was elected as a Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), President Meron served on the Appeals Chambers of both the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the ICTY until the closure of the two predecessor Tribunals, in December 2015 and 2017, respectively.
He also served a total of four terms as President of the ICTY and two previous terms as the Mechanism’s President.
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