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Information, Documentation and Training Agency, Arusha (Tanzania): International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

ICTR - Protais Zigiranyirazo, businessman


NOVEMBER 25TH 2003
_____________________________________________
ICTR/ ZIGIRANYIRAZO

ZIGIRANYIRAZO MAKES SECOND INITIAL APPEARANCE

Arusha, November 25th, 2003 (FH) - Genocide suspect Protais Zigiranyirazo, and a brother- in-law of former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana on Tuesday made his second initial appearance before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

The suspect appeared before Trial Chamber Three of the ICTR and pleaded not guilty to five counts of genocide and crimes against humanity. Zigiranyirazo had already made the first initial appearance in October 2001 but the indictment was amended prompting the second appearance.

Zigiranyirazo, 65, was initially charged two counts of crimes against humanity. The amended indictment accuses him of committing genocide against Tutsis between April and July 1994 in Kigali and Gisenyi.

The charges were read to the suspect by Judge Lloyd George Williams (Saint Kitts and Nevis).

The prosecutor accuses Zigiranyirazo of conspiring with influential and powerful persons including Habyarimanas widow Agathe Kanziga, colonel Theoneste Bagasora, Anatole Nsengiyumva (Army Commander of Gisenyi region) and Jean Bosco Barayagiza (Director of political Affairs in foreign Affairs Ministry and radio RTLM founder) to commit genocide.

According to the Prosecutor, the accused who was a powerful and influential businessman was instrumental in initiating the formation of Interahamwe (youth wing of MRND) in Gisenyi. He also participated and facilitated the training and arming of Interahamwe.

The accused allegedly led a convoy of armed presidential guard soldiers, gendarmes and Interahamwe who attacked and killed approximately 1000 Tutsis who had sought refuge on Gashihe or Kesho hill in Gaseke commune (Gisenyi prefecture, western Rwanda).

According to the prosecutor, between April and July 1994, the accused ordered the establishment of roadblock near his three residences so that they would be used in the campaign to kill Tutsis.

He also ordered his son Jean Marie Makiza, to shoot death three gendarmes identified as Tutsi at a road block near his residence in Giciye Commune in May 1994.

Popularly known as "Mr. Z," the accused was also a prefect of Ruhengeri (north) for ten years before becoming a prominent businessman. He was arrested on July 26th , 2001 in Belgium and transferred to the United Nations Detention Facilities in Arusha on October 3rd .

His trial is expected to begin in April 2004.

PJ/AT/FH (Zi'1125e)



NOVEMBER 18TH, 2003
_____________________________________________
ICTR/ZIGIRANYIRAZO

“MR Z” TO MAKE SECOND INITIAL APPEARANCE ON NOVEMBER 25

Arusha, November 18th,2003 (FH) – Protais Zigiranyirazo, the brother-in-law
of former Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana who is being held by the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), is to make his second
initial appearance on November 25 following the amendment of his indictment.

The new indictment charges Zigiranyirazo, 65, with five counts genocide and
crimes against humanity committed against Tutsis between April and July 1994
in Kigali and Gisenyi (north-west Rwanda).

The original indictment only charged the accused with two counts of crimes
against humanity. He had pleaded not guilty during his first initial
appearance.

Popularly known as Mr. Z, the accused is the brother of Habyarimana’s widow
and had been the prefect of Ruhengeri for 10 years before becoming a
prominent businessman.

According to the indictment, Tutsis in Kigali and Gisenyi were killed on the
orders of Zigiranyirazo.

It is also alleged that in April 1994, he had given orders to people in
charge of roadblocks near his home in the chic neighbourhood of Kiyovu “to
search all houses and kill all Tutsis they found”.

“Shortly after, soldiers and Interahamwe militia started widespread
killings”, reads the indictment.

It continues that the following month, Mr. Z ordered his own son, Jean Marie
Makiza, to shoot to death three gendarmes identified as Tutsi.

The gendarmes were allegedly killed at a road block near his villa in Giciye
commune in Gisenyi.

The accused was arrested on July 26, 2001 in Belgium and transferred to the
Arusha UN detention facilities on October 3.

He will appear before judges Williams (St. Kitts and Nevis), Vaz (Senegal)
and Khan (Pakistan).

KN/ER/CE/FH (Z'1119'e)


OCTOBER 10th, 2001

ICTR/ ZIGIRANYIRAZO

"MR. Z" PLEADS NOT-GUILTY, DEMANDS PLANE CRASH REPORTS

Arusha, October 10th, 2001 (FH) Former Rwandan prefect and alleged death squad leader Protais Zigiranyirazo on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to two counts of crimes against humanity before the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

Zigiranyirazo, alias "Mr. Z", told presiding judge Navanethem Pillay of South Africa he was surprised to be arrested and brought before the ICTR in relation to the 1994 events in Rwanda. "I would believe that as the first victim of these events, the ICTR would have hastened to render justice to me," the grey-haired, bespectacled 63-year-old told the court. Dressed in a dark suit with light blue shirt and yellow tie, he asked to remain seated, saying he did not feel very well.

"It is the attack against the plane of President Juvénal Habyarimana (on April 6th, 1994) which was the detonator of the tragedy," said Mr. Z. "It happened that President Habyarimana and his personal secretary, Colonel Elie Sagatwa, who found death in this wretched attack, were respectively my brother-in-law and my young brother. I would have thought that as the first victim of these events, the ICTR would have hastened to render justice to me."

"It goes without saying that the truth on this attack constitutes the cornerstone of any just and fair trial," he continued, saying allegations that the Habyarimana family were behind the attack were part of a "vast untrue propaganda and all kinds of slander directed against me and my family and even of unfounded allegations against my person by the Prosecutor of this Tribunal."

Mr. Z asked that he be given the results of any UN investigations into the plane crash. "I do hope that the results of these investigations will be put at my disposal as soon as possible since they are of high importance for the preparation of my defence," he said.

Judge Pillay, sitting alone on the bench, told Mr. Z he could raise the matter in a motion at a later date, for disclosure of "whatever documents may be in the possession of the Prosecutor in relation to investigations on the crash".

The Tribunal has under seal a report by former UN investigator Michael Hourigan which suggests the RPF, now in power in Kigali, may have been behind the plane crash that sparked the 1994 genocide. This has already been disclosed to some defence teams. The Prosecutor is believed to be in possession of further details on the Hourigan investigations.

Zigiranyirazo is charged with one count of extermination, or alternatively murder, as crimes against humanity. The charges relate mainly to killings carried out at roadblocks near his residences during the 1994 genocide.

Mr. Z was prefect of Ruhengeri in northwest Rwanda from 1974 to 1989 and was also a wealthy businessman. The ICTR indictment says he was perceived as a member of the "Akazu", the powerful circle around former president Habyarimana. It also links him to death squads and the so-called "Zero Network" which, according to human rights organizations, were set up after Tutsi RPF guerrillas invaded Rwanda in 1990.

Zigiranyirazo was arrested in Belgium at the end of July, on an arrest warrant from the ICTR. He had been detained at Brussels airport in early June because of doubts about his travel documents, and was kept in an asylum seekers centre as the ICTR drew up an indictment.

JC/FH (ZI_1010e)


OCTOBER 4th, 2001

ICTR/ZIGIRANYIRAZO

ALLEGED DEATH SQUAD LEADER TRANSFERRED TO RWANDA TRIBUNAL

Arusha, October 4th, 2001 (FH) – Former Rwandan prefect and alleged death squad leader Protais Zigiranyirazo was on Wednesday transferred from Belgium to the detention facility of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, the ICTR has confirmed.

Zigiranyirazo, or "Mr. Z", is the brother-in-law of former Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana, whose death sparked the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. He is charged with one count of extermination, or alternatively murder, as a crime against humanity. The charges relate mainly to killings carried out at roadblocks near his residences during genocide.

Mr. Z was prefect of Ruhengeri in northwest Rwanda from 1974 to 1989 and was also a wealthy businessman. The ICTR indictment says he was perceived as a member of the "Akazu", the powerful circle around former president Juvénal Habyarimana. It also links him to death squads and the so-called "Zero Network" which, according to human rights organizations, were set up after Tutsi RPF guerrillas invaded Rwanda in 1990.

Zigiranyirazo was arrested in Belgium at the end of July, on an arrest warrant from the ICTR. He had been detained at Brussels airport in early June because of doubts about his travel documents, and was kept in an asylum seekers centre as the ICTR drew up an indictment.

The accused's Belgian lawyer Luc de Temmerman says his client has been wrongly arrested and that "the facts contained in the indictment are a collection of deliberate errors and lies, unworthy of an international court".

SW/JC/PHD/FH (ZI_1004e)



SEPTEMBER 5th 2001

ICTR/ZIGIRANYIRAZO

LAWYER SAYS "MR Z" HAS BEEN WRONGLY ACCUSED

Arusha, September 5th, 2001(FH) - The UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has wrongly accused former Rwandan prefect Protais Zigiranyirazo of involvement in the 1994 genocide, says his Belgian lawyer Luc de Temmerman.

"Mr Protais Zigiranyirazo considers himself completely innocent, as he has had no influence in Rwandan politics since1989 and did not belong to any group except for being the brother-in-law of the former Rwandan head of state," said De Temmerman in a statement sent this week to Hirondelle.

Zigiranyirazo, known as "Mr. Z", is in detention in Belgium, awaiting transfer to the ICTR. He is charged with one count of extermination, or alternatively murder, as a crime against humanity. The charges relate
mainly to killings carried out at roadblocks near his residences during genocide.

Mr. Z was prefect of Ruhengeri in northwest Rwanda from 1974 to 1989 and was also a wealthy businessman. The ICTR indictment says he was perceived as a member of the "Akazu", the powerful circle around former president Juvénal Habyarimana. It also links him to death squads and the so-called
"Zero Network" which, according to human rights organizations, were set up after Tutsi RPF guerrillas invaded Rwanda in 1990.

However, De Temmerman says that "the facts contained in the indictment are a collection of deliberate errors and lies, unworthy of an international court". He says that the concepts of the Akazu, death squads
and the Zero Network are "political inventions put about after the introduction of multiparty politics in Rwanda by so-called human rights organizations and irresponsible journalists both inside and outside Rwanda".

"It is with great confidence that my client will appear before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to demystify the power of a brother-in-law of a president," writes De Temmerman. He says he considers the accusations against his client as a "brutal attack on the Habyarimana family which has had its head of family assassinated without Mrs. Carla Del Ponte (ICTR Prosecutor) feeling the need to bring to justice the authors of that attack which triggered mayhem in Rwanda".

De Temmerman says his client will be transferred to the ICTR after appearing before the Belgian Court of Cassation (highest court for criminal and civil cases), in accordance with Belgium's law on cooperation with the UN's two ad hoc tribunals. Mr. Z was arrested in Belgium on July 26th.

De Temmerman is no stranger to the ICTR, having briefly defended former militia leader Georges Rutaganda in the Tribunal's early days. Currently De Temmerman is also representing former Rwandan army officer Bernard Ntuyahaga. Ntuyahaga was released by the ICTR on technical grounds on March 18th, 1999, but was re-arrested by the Tanzanian authorities the same day, and now faces possible extradition to Rwanda.
AT/JC/FH (ZI_0905e)


JULY 27th, 2001
_______________________________________________________________
ICTR/ ARREST

ALLEGED DEATH SQUAD LEADER ARRESTED IN BELGIUM

Arusha, July 27th, 2001 (FH) - An alleged leader of death squads in Rwanda was arrested in Belgium on Thursday, at the request of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Protais Zigiranyirazo, known to Rwandans as "Z", is the brother-in-law of former Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana, whose death sparked the 1994genocide. "Z" is charged with crimes against humanity.

A 1993 report by the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) points to "Z" not only as a member of the "Akazu", the powerful circle around the former president, but also a leading member of death squads set up after Tutsi RPF guerrillas invaded Rwanda in 1990. The report says these
death squads, or "Zero Network" carried out systematic attacks against civilians, mainly Tutsis and Hutu opponents of the Habyarimana regime.

Belgian authorities detained "Z" at Brussels airport in early June, Hirondelle has learned, because of doubts about his travel documents. When he was found to be travelling under a false identity (with a French passport), he asked for asylum in Belgium. Since, then he has been kept in an asylum-seekers' centre in Brussels airport, while the ICTR Prosecutor drew up an indictment.

This has now been done, and "Z" is expected to appear in court in Belgium on Monday, before being transferred to the UN prison in Arusha. Informed sources say the job of indicting "Z" was not easy, especially as the ICTR's mandate covers only 1994. The strongest allegations against him relate to the period before the genocide.

The ICTR indictment charges "Z" with extermination or, alternatively murder, as a crime against humanity. The charges relate mainly to killings carried out at roadblocks during the genocide.

"During April - July 1994, Protais Zigiranyirazo ordered and authorized roadblocks to be established in direct proximity to each of his three residences in Kiyovu cellule (Kigali-ville prefecture), in Gasiza cellule (Giciye commune, Gisenyi prefecture), and in Gisenyi town (Rubavu commune, Gisenyi prefecture), knowing and intending that they would be used in the campaign of extermination or killing," says the indictment.

It says "Z" ordered soldiers and Interahmwe militia to kill Tutsis at these roadblocks, and that he also ordered, aided and abetted other specific killings.

JC/MBR/FH (AR_0727e)
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