______________________________________________ ICTR/REGISTRY EX-RWANDAN PREMIER MOVED TO MALI TO SERVE GENOCIDE SENTENCE Arusha, December 10th, 2001 (FH) - Genocide convict and former Rwandan prime minister Jean Kambanda and five other genocide convicts were on Sunday transferred from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Tanzania to Mali, where they will serve their sentences, official sources confirmed. These six are the first ICTR convicts to be transferred to a prison to serve out their sentence. Kambanda is the first leader of a government to be convicted of genocide. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1999. He lost an appeal against the sentence. An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The other five ICTR convicts transferred to Mali are: former mayor of Taba commune Jean Paul Akayesu, former governor of Kibuye province Clement Kayishema and former tea factory director Alfred Musema, who were all sentenced to life in prison; former Interahamwe militia leader Omar Serushago, who was sentenced to 15 years, and former businessman Obed Ruzindana who was sentenced to 25 years. All five lost appeals against their trials and sentences. The ICTR has so far handed down nine judgements: eight convictions and one acquittal. Three African countries, Mali, Benin and Swaziland, have signed agreements with the ICTR to take Tribunal convicts in their prisons. The convicts transferred to Mali had, until Sunday, been in custody at the UN Detention Facility (UNDF) in Arusha. The prisons in which ICTR convicts serve their sentences are required to meet international standards. GG/JC/DO/FH (RE_1210e)
MARCH 14th 2000
ICTR/RUZINDANA PROSECUTOR ASKS TO WITHDRAW SECOND INDICTMENT AGAINST RUZINDANA Arusha, March 14th, 2000 (FH) - The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has asked to withdraw a second indictment against former Rwandan businessman Obed Rutzindana, who has already been convicted of genocide by a trial chamber of the ICTR. Ruzindana was tried with former prefect of Kibuye (western Rwanda) Clément Kayishema and sentenced last May to 25 years in prison. He has also been indicted along with three other people for a trial which has not yet started. However, the prosecution filed a request on March 10th asking that the charges against Ruzindana in the second indictment now be withdrawn. The prosecution says its request is founded in law and that it is in the interests of justice. The ICTR has not yet set a date for the hearing of the request. In the second indictment, Ruzindana is jointly accused with former Seventh Day Adventist preacher Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, his son the former doctor Gerald Ntakirutimana and the former mayor of Gishyita (Kibuye prefecture, western Rwanda) Charles Sikubwabo. They are accused of massacring Tutsis in Mugonero complex, which included a church, a hospital and an infirmary. Elizaphan Ntakirutimana is expected to be transferred shortly from the United States to the ICTR prison in Arusha, while his son is already in the UN jail. Sikubwabo is still on the run. Ruzindana, 38, was arrested in Kenya on September 20th, 1996 and transferred to Arusha two days later. He is represented by French lawyer Pascal Besnier and Willem van der Griend of the Netherlands. Both the prosecution and the defence have appealed the judgement against him. AT/JC/FH (RZ%0314e)
JOURNALISTS WHO TESTIFIED IN GENOCIDE TRIAL NOT CREDIBLE, LAWYER SAYS Arusha, November 10, 1998 (FH) - Two war correspondents who testified in the genocide trial of a former Rwandan government official were not credible witnesses, a defence lawyer told the United Nation's Rwanda court on Tuesday. The lawyer dismissed the testimony of journalists Patrick de Saint Exupery, reporter for the French daily Le Figaro and Chris McGreal, correspondent for the British newspaper The Guardian as "second-hand" and sensationalist. "Journalism has never been the basis of justice and we are fortunate for this," said French defence counsel Andre Ferran, adding that judges should be aware of the "gap between the truth and journalist fabrications." The two war correspondents traveled throughout Rwanda during the country-wide killings in 1994 that claimed the lives of over half a million of the ethnic Tutsi minority. Three years later, they were called as expert witnesses for the prosecution in a trial at the U.N. court established to punish those responsible. At the tail-end of the killings, the French reporter Patrick de Saint Exupery drank beers with government official Clement Kayishema -- now on trial for genocide -- at a local bar in Kibuye town, where thousands had been massacred. Exupery testified that he began to fear for his life during that barroom interview and that the government official seemed to display a hatred for Tutsis and a "thirst for blood." But Kayishema's defence lawyer says the journalist exaggerated what he saw in order to sell newspapers, adding that Exupery's articles contained factual errors. "If he's a war correspondent, if he wants to tell us the victims and the perpetrators of the crimes, then he should not be playing with the facts," said Ferran, after stating that the journalist misquoted the number of militiamen and the population of the town in his articles. The lawyer said that since the journalist were testifying based on what they had learned after the massacres from the people they had interviewed, their statements were not first-hand. "He took crude testimony and he did not have the luxury, the desire or the time to cross-check," Ferran said of Chris McGreal's interviews with nuns and massacre survivors in the town. Ferran also complained that the journalists' refusals to reveal the names of the people they had interviewed further weakened their credibility. Dozens of other prosecution witnesses, including a Catholic nun and massacre survivors, testified that the government official aided in the death of thousands of Tutsis who had gathered in churches, schools and the town stadium to seek refuge from the violence. Kayishema now stands trial on twenty-four counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Conventions. He is charged jointly with businessman Obed Ruzindana, who is accused of hunting Tutsis in the near-by hills and killing them in their hiding places. Prosecutors say the two prominent Rwandans were following orders from the extremist Hutu government who sought to kill off the Tutsis, whom they saw as a political threat. The extremists grabbed power in the hours after the assassination of Rwanda's president just months after he the signed a precarious peace agreement with the country's Tutsi-led rebel army. FS/FB/FH (KY&1110E)
ICTR/KAYISHEMA & RUZINDANA
LAWYER CASTS DOUBT ON WITNESS IN THE GENOCIDE TRIAL OF RWANDAN BUSINESSMAN
Arusha, November 2, 1998 (FH) - As the genocide trial of a Rwandan businessman grinds to a close, his defence lawyer casts doubt on Monday on the those who testified against him at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), reports the Hirondelle independent press agency.
Twenty prosecution witnesses told the United Nations court that businessman Obed Ruzindana participated in the massacres of ethnic Tutsis that swept across Rwanda in 1994.
Witnesses said that Ruzindana led armed men into the hills of the Bisesero area to hunt Tutsi and kill them in their hiding places.
But in his closing statements to the court, defence lawyer Pascal Besnier highlighted what he saw as inconsistencies in their testimony.
"The witness said he heard Ruzindana's voice as he was fleeing [...] from a distance of about 150 meters," Besnier said, referring to the testimony of witness AA. "This is impossible. In the heat of gunfire [...] you cannot hear the words of an assailant."
Earlier in the trial, the defence team brought a French psychiatrist as an expert witness to tell the court how victims of violence sometimes reconstruct their memories based on what they later learn from other people.
Besnier also highlighted the similar testimonies of witness II and EE, who both told the court that they hid alone a few meters from a massacre site and watched Ruzindana murder two young girls.
"This is extraordinary. They are in the same place and they do not see each other," Besnier said. He told the court that II and EE were former classmates in school and suggested that they discussed the experience after it happened.
The lawyer portrayed his client as the object of rumours circulating in an atmosphere of terror. Witness who saw Ruzindana's car on the road or who heard that he had arrived in the area testified that the businessman was there without actually having seen him, Besnier said. Others identified him in the chaos and remembered his words from a distance of 300 meters.
"It is no secret that witnesses come to Arusha and they are lodged together in the same house," Besnier told the court. "They are prohibited from sharing information but we do not know what they do."
The lawyer was reminding the court that witness MM seemed to have lied under oath when he said he had not met any other Rwandans since his arrival in neighbouring Tanzania to testify in front of the United Nations tribunal.
Ruzindana is charged with six counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Conventions, which protect civilian in times of war.
He stands trial jointly with former district official Clement Kayishema, who is charged with twenty-four counts of the same crimes.
Prosecutors say Ruzindana followed the orders of the extremist Hutu government that attempted to exterminate the Tutsi minority, who they saw as a political threat.
In the three months after the assassination of Rwanda's president, more than half a million Tutsi and politically moderate Hutu were massacred across the country.
Prosecutors say that Ruzindana helped kill Tutsis who had taken refuge from the genocide. They say he suffocate refugees who were hiding in a cave, ordered the killing of infants and personally cut off a school girl's breasts and then murdered her.
But defence lawyers say that the businessman has been falsely accused by people who are jealous of his wealth.
They say he was a simple man with no political interests or position in the government, whose main concern during the months of violence was the protection of his Tutsi wife.
Lawyers expect the trial to conclude this week, but say that judges could take several months to announce a verdict.
FS/FB/FH (KY&1102E)
ICTR/KAYISHEMA & RUZINDANA CLOSING ARGUMENTS CONTINUE ON MONDAY Arusha, October 29, 1998 (FH) - The trial of former district official Clement Kayishema and businessman Obed Ruzindana continues on Monday as Ruzindana's defence lawyers present their closing arguments. "Obed Ruzindana was [...] an average trader, not too rich, not too poor," Willem van der Griend told the court. "The evidence shows that Obed Ruzindana had no political power, no army, nor any influence" he added. The businessman is accused of leading patrols of armed civilians to hunt ethnic Tutsis hiding in the hills from the massacres that swept across Rwanda in 1994. Van der Griend said the crime of genocide implied a special intent to kill members of a certain group, but that his client had no such goal "since he had Tutsi friends" and "he was married to a Tutsi." Ruzindana is charged with six counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Convention, which protects civilians in times of war. Van der Griend said his client could not be found guilty of war crimes because he had never been a soldier. The court's recent judgement of Jean Paul Akayesu found the mayor guilty of genocide but not war crimes, despite his assistance to the military. Prosecutors say that the massacres over over half a million ethnic Tutsis were orchestrated by the extremist Hutu government who saw Tutsis as apolitical threat. But defence lawyers say that Tutsi civilians were killed in the chaos of war by Hutus who thought the ordinary people were collaborating with the invading Tutsi-led rebel army. Human rights groups estimate that over 800,000 Tutsi and politically moderate Hutu were killed in the three months after the mysterious assassination of Rwanda's Hutu president in 1994. His plane was shot down on April 6, 1994 - sparking the massacres - but the identity of the shooters remains unknown. In his remarks, the defence lawyer expressed sympathy for the victims, and quoted Philippe Gaillard, head of the Red Cross mission at the time, who said simply : "This nation has committed suicide." Whether guilty of witnessing national suicide or orchestrating genocide, the two prominent Rwandans will sit in court on Monday to hear closing statements on behalf of the former governmental official in Kibuye district, Clement Kayishema. Lawyers say they expect the trial to conclude next week, but that a verdict from the judges could take several months. FS/FB/FH (KY&1029E)
LAWYERS BEGIN TO WRAP UP GENOCIDE CASE AGAINST TWO PROMINENT RWANDANS
Arusha, October 21, 1998 (FH) - Prosecutors at the U.N. court set up to try the perpetrators of Rwanda's 1994 genocide began to close their case on Wednesday against two prominent Rwandan citizens. The trial of former district official Clement Kayishema and former businessman Obed Ruzindana will be over by next week, lawyers say, after a court battle lasting a year and a half to convict the two of genocide.
"The crimes for which Kayishema and Ruzindana are accused are perfect examples of the human monstrosities that have been committed in Rwanda on the basis of ethnic hatred," lead prosecutor Johan Rahetlah told the court.
Rahetlah began his closing statements by recounting the history of ethnic animosity in the troubled central African country between the Hutu majority and the Tutsi minority. Over half a million Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were massacred in 1994 by Hutu extremists who grabbed power after the assassination of the president. Kayishema and Ruzindana are being charged with leading in the killing of thousands of Tutsis seeking refuge from the violence in churches, schools and a stadium of Kibuye town. Rahetlah called the 1994 country-wide killings, in which an estimated ten percent of Rwanda's population were murdered in three months, "unprecedented in history." Prosecutors will continue with their closing arguments on Thursday, seeking multiple terms of life imprisonment for the accused. Defence lawyers are expected to begin their response next week. They argue that their clients are innocent and seek acquittal. Judges will not pass down the verdict on the two men until after the winter holiday break, lawyers say. The case will be the third trial completed by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which was created by the U.N. Security Council in 1994. FS/FB/FH (KY&1021E)
FORMER RWANDAN OFFICIAL DENIES TRAINING AND ARMING CIVILIANS
Arusha, 14th 98 (FH) - The former Rwandan district official on trial for genocide denied organising a "civilian defence program" in his area to massacre the country's Tutsi ethnic minority in 1994. Clement Kayishema, the former district official of Kibuye area, told the United Nations court on Monday that despite instructions from his superiors, he did not carry out the "civilian defence" program that prosecutors say is double-speak for genocide.
"It was not possible," Kayishema told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). "There were more than 1 million people who went through Kibuye. It was not possible to arm them all." Testifying in his own defence against charges of genocide crimes, Kayishema told the court last week that he could not carry out instructions from top government officials to train and arm the population in his area because he lacked the resources. But Monday Kayishema testified that he had witnessed "the chaos of civilian defence" and had tried to stop the program.
Kayishema portrayed Rwanda after the assassination of President Habyarimana as a lawless place where Hutu peasants spontaneously took up arms against their Tutsi neighbours, whom they blamed for the death of the Hutu leader.
Kayishema says that at that time, most soldiers were away fighting the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a mostly Tutsi rebel army, and therefore he did not have the manpower to stop the massacre of thousands of Tutsis civilians taking refuge in churches, schools and public buildings in his area.He maintains that he never found out who took part in the massacres.
But Prosecutors say that the country-wide killings of half a million Tutsi and moderate Hutu opposition in 1994 were not spontaneous, but part of a systematic plan by Hutu government extremists to retain political power.They say that top government officials authorised the training of civilian defence militias as part of a wide-spread effort to exterminate the Tutsi ethnic group, who were seen as a threat to Hutu political power.
Dressed in a dark blue pin-striped suit, Kayishema denied the testimony of eye-witnesses who said that he personally led the massacres in Kibuye's town stadium and hunted down unarmed Tutsi civilians hiding from the killers in mountain caves.
"We were carrying out a mission of pacification," Kayishema said. "It had nothing to do with killing Tutsis. You received the wrong version of events."
Kayishema stands trial jointly with businessman Obed Ruzindana on counts of genocide and crimes against humanity. Lawyers expect the trial to conclude next week, but are unsure when the three-judge panel of the ICTR will announce a verdict.
FS/AT/PHD/FH (KY&0914E )
SEPTEMBER 10, 1998
ICTR/KAYISHEMA
FORMER RWANDAN DISTRICT OFFICIAL CHARGED WITH GENOCIDE TESTIFIES IN HIS OWN DEFENCE
Arusha, 10 September 98 (FH) - A former Rwandan district official on trial for genocide testified Thursday that he did not participate in the massacres of thousands of unarmed persecuted civilians during the wave of violence against the country's Tutsi ethnic minority in 1994.
"The massacres that happened in Rwanda touched me," Clement Kayishema told a U.N. court on Thursday during cross-examination. "I lost friends. I lost godsons" the accused added, according to the Hirondelle independent press agency.
Dozens of survivors, including an old man who knew Kayishema since he was young, testified that the former district official personally led massacres against thousands of Tutsi civilians seeking refuge in churches, schools and at a stadium in the town of Kibuye, where Kayishema was the top district official.
"These are very unlikely things," said Kayishema of his alleged involvement in the massacres. "They did not happen and I was not there."
He says he never found out who the real killers were.
The former official denied the testimony of six eye-witnesses who said Kayishema led soldiers and armed civilians to the stadium and killed the people inside.
Kayishema also dismissed as false the testimony of two other eye-witnesses who told the court that he fired into the crowd at the stadium and said "shoot these Tutsi dogs."
Kayishema portrays Rwanda at the time as a country without law or authority after the April 6 assassination of President Habyarimana. With animated gestures on the witness stand, Kayishema said district authorities were "overwhelmed by the situation" and unable to stop Hutu farmers from killing their Tutsi neighbours, whom they blamed for the Hutu president's death.
Testifying in his own defence as the last defence witness, Kayishema told the court that he was hiding in an abandoned house during the bloody four-day span of time when thousands of unarmed Tutsis and political opponents were attacked.
But Prosecutors say Kayishema guilty of genocide, arguing that he ordered Tutsis to take refuge in town buildings, appointed soldiers to prevent them from leaving and ordered militiamen to kill them.
They argue that the country-wide killings of Tutsi civilians and Hutu opposition leaders in Rwanda were part of a systematic plan by Hutu extremists to gain power over the country. They say that government officials, including the former Prime Minister who pleaded guilty to genocide last May, encouraged and organised the massacres.
Clement Kayishema stands trial jointly with businessman Obed Ruzindana, who has decided not to take the stand in his own defence.
Prosecution lawyers expect Thursday to be Kayishema's last day on the witness stand, but it is unclear when judges will reach a verdict.
FS/FB/FH (KY&0910E)
SEPTEMBER 8, 1998
FORMER RWANDAN DISTRICT OFFICIAL TESTIFIES ABOUT CHILD SURVIVORS
Arusha, 8 septembre 98 (FH) - A former Rwandan doctor and district official on trial for genocide testified Tuesday that he tried to help child survivors of the massacres that took place in 1994, but that top government officials did not respond, says the Hirondelle independent press agency.
The children were later killed.
Clement Kayishema, head of the Kibuye area in Rwanda where thousands of the ethnic Tutsi minority and political opponents were massacred by Hutu militants, testifying in his own defence, said he took injured children to the hospital and informed a meeting of high-ranking government officials of their situation.
"When we were burying corpses, we found survivors," said the former district official. "There were about one hundred survivors between the ages of eight and fifteen years old."
Kayishema said that Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda and other top government officials visited Kibuye and were questioned by a local doctor at a public meeting about how to protect the hospitalised child survivors.
"He [Kambanda] called for blankets and food," Kayishema said, but noted that other officials at the meeting dismissed the question as irrelevant.
Jean Kambanda was sentenced last Friday to life in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) after pleading guilty to six counts of genocide and crimes against humanity for his role as prime minister of the Hutu militant government that massacred over half a million Tutsi civilians and Hutu opposition leaders during three months of 1994.
Then former leader admitted in his plea agreement that he met with government officials in Kibuye to congratulate those who had massacred Tutsis seeking refuge in churches and public buildings of the town.
Kambanda also acknowledged in his guilty plea that he was asked about the protection of the hospitalised children at the Kibuye meeting and that the children were killed later the same day.
Kambanda's May 3 meeting, broadcast to the public on loudspeakers, was held in a small town hall because the stadium "was still stinking" after the massacre of hundreds of unarmed civilians that took place there two weeks earlier, according to Kayishema.
Kayishema stands trial jointly with businessman Obed Ruzindana on five counts of genocide crimes. Prosecution lawyers say that Kayishema personally participated in massacres perpetrated by his subordinates and failed to prevent or punish the killers.
The former district official says that the country-wide mass killings that swept across Rwanda in the months following the assassination of Rwanda's president Habyarimana in 1994 were perpetrated by lawless peasants and bandits whose illegal acts overwhelmed government officials.
FS/FB/PHD/FH (KY&0908E)
DISTRICT OFFICIAL KAYISHEMA TELLS COURT HE WAS POWERLESS TO STOP THE KILLINGS
Arusha, 7th September 98 (FH) - A former Rwandan doctor and district official charged with genocide testified on Monday that he was powerless to stop the massacres in the region during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and the massacres of political opponents, says the Hirondelle independent press agency.
Clement Kayishema, who prosecutors say orchestrated the massacres of thousands of Tutsis seeking refuge in churches and in the town stadium, told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that he was in hiding at the time of the massacres even though he was the government official responsible for the area.
"I had been threatened. I was scared [...]. I felt that I was at the point of being killed by those attackers," Kayishema said after telling the court that an angry crowd of civilians threw a spear at him while he tried to pacify them in the days following the assassination of Rwanda's president Habyarimana, on 6th of April 94.
Kayishema described Rwanda after the president's death as a country with no real authority in power, testifying that Hutu peasants blamed an invading Tutsi army for the assassination and unleashed an uncontrollable wave of violence against their unarmed Tutsi neighbours.
But Prosecutors say that the widespread killings of Tutsi and politically moderate Hutu were part of a systematic plan to exterminate "the enemy" by Hutu extremists in government who took power in the hours after the president's death. They say the authority at that time endorsed the acts of violence and torture against Tutsi and that Kayishema participated.
The former Prime Minister of Rwanda's government at the time, Jean Kambanda, pleaded guilty last May to genocide crimes, supporting the Prosecution's claim that the country-wide mass killings at road-blocks, in churches and outside government offices were orchestrated by top government officials.
Kayishema testified that he feared for his life and hid for several days with his family after a group of peasants wearing banana leaves attacked his home, accusing his wife of being a Tutsi.
He said on the day he came out of hiding, the streets were so littered with rotting bodies that his bodyguards had to remove them in order for the cars to pass.
Kayishema, who is a trained doctor, said the sights and smells in the aftermath of the massacres made him want to vomit.
He stands trial with former businessman Obed Ruzindana for five counts of genocide crimes, including murder, extermination and crimes against humanity.
Lawyers say that their trial, which began April of last year, is expected to conclude this week.
FS/FB/PHD/FH (KY&0907F)
FORMER DISTRICT OFFICIAL CLAIMS HE HAD NO MEANS TO RESTORE CALM
Arusha, 7 September 98 (FH) - A former district official charged with genocide told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) here on Monday that he had no resources to restore calm in Kibuye (west of Rwanda), during the 1994 genocide and massacres of political opponents, says the Hirondelle independenr press agency.
"There was nothing at all at our disposal to bring calm to the place," said Clement Kayishema, speaking in his own defence as the last witness of his trial for genocide and crimes against humanity.
According to the accused, "inter-ethnic disturbances" had occurred in the area during the days following the assassination of president Habyarimana that sparked the genocide on April 6th '94.
Kayishema is defending himself on the witness stand from five counts of genocide and crimes against humanity for massacres of thousands of civilians from the Tutsi ethnic minority and moderate Hutu who were systematically killed across Rwanda by Hutu extremists in 1994.
The prosecutor's indictment charges the former district official with personally participating in the massacre of hundreds of unarmed civilians seeking refuge in a Catholic church and in the town stadium of Kibuye.
Kayishema is standing trial jointly with businessman Obed Ruzindana. His audition was to continue into the afternoon. Prosecutors expect to began cross-examination Wednesday.
FS/FB/FH (KY&0907E)
FORMER DISTRICT OFFICIAL SAYS HE WAS OVERWHELMED BY POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN 1992
Arusha, 3rd September 98 (FH) - A Rwandan doctor and district official charged with genocide testified Thursday that he was powerless to stop the political violence surrounding local multiparty elections in 1992 preceding Rwanda's widespread massacres which killed over half a million people two years later.
Former district official Clement Kayishema testified that district authorities were overwhelmed and did not have the resources to stop the election violence in the areas of Gishyita and Rutsiro. The election was based on a system of cooptation amongst various political parties, reinstated or newly created since June 1991.
Kayishema is expected to use a similar defence against charges of genocide when he testifies on Monday about his role in the mass killings in the region of Kibuye while he was the head of the district.
Kayishema took the stand on Tuesday in his own defence as the twenty-eighth defence witness for his joint trial with businessman Obed Ruzindana.
The two are charged with directing the massacre of thousands of unarmed civilians as they sought refuge in churches, in the town stadium and in the neighboring hills of Bisesero.
The Prosecution argues that Kayishema targeted the country's Tutsi ethnic minority for extermination and acted in accordance with a nation-wide plan by Hutu extremists to commit genocide.
Kayishema and Ruzindana are two of thirty-one suspects and defendants accused of genocide and arrested by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
The Tribunal passed down its first guilty verdict Wednesday, making the former mayor Jean Paul Akayesu the first person who pleaded innocent to be convicted of genocide since the 1948 genocide convention.
The former Prime Minister Jean Kambanda, who pleaded guilty to six counts of genocide crimes in May, will be sentenced by a three-judge panel on Friday.
FS/FB/PHD/FH (KY&0903E)
DOCTOR CHARGED WITH GENOCIDE TAKES THE STAND IN HIS OWN DEFENCE
Arusha, 1st September 98 (FH) - A Rwandan doctor and former district official charged with genocide took the witness stand on Tuesday to defend himself from the indictments of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), says the Hirondelle independent Press agency.
Dressed in a dark grey suit with a red handkerchief in his pocket, Clement Kayishema described himself as a practising Roman Catholic and the father of two boys.
The doctor, charged with directing the massacres of thousand civilians, told the court that he learned of his acceptance to medical school over the radio in 1975.
"I saw that it [medicine] was a good profession. [...] It was a profession that was helping people who were suffering," Kayishema said.
After years in the medical profession, Kayishema was posted as a district official in charge of an area known as Kibuye, where thousands of civilians were killed in 1994, including hundreds who were seeking refuge at the town's Catholic church.
The former district official stands trial jointly with Rwandan businessman Obed Ruzindana on five counts of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Kayishema is expected to take the witness stand for the next four days, defence lawyers say. Lawyers expect a verdict in the next two weeks.
Kayishema is the twenty-eighth defence witness in the case, which has been on trial since April of last year. The twenty-seventh witness, known under the witness protection program as DR, testified that he knew the businessman Ruzindana and had bought goods at his store.
FS/FB/PHD/FH (KY&0901E)
DEFENCE WITNESS SAYS RWANDAN BUSINESSMAN ON TRIAL FOR GENOCIDE NOT EDUCATED ENOUGH TO HAVE COMMITTED THE CRIME
Arusha, August 31st '98 (FH) - A Rwandan businessman on trial for genocide was not educated enough to have committed the crime, a defence witness told the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (ICTR) Monday, according to the Hirondelle independent Press agency.
Speaking in defence for Obed Ruzindana, a wealthy trader accused of leading massacres of hundreds of Rwandan civilians in 1994, the trial's twenty-fifth defence witness said he didn't believe the businessman was capable of genocide.
"In order to organise such a widespread operation, you need someone intelligent," said the witness, known only as DQ in the ICTR's witness protection program.
Unlike the majority of people on trial for Rwanda's genocide, Ruzindana did not hold a government post or achieve a university degree, defence witnesses say.
Ruzindana stands trial jointly with Clement Kayishema, a doctor and former district official, for massacres of civilians taking refuge from the violence in the hills of Bisesero near his home town.
When asked by prosecution lawyer Holo Makwaia whether "you need a master's degree in order to kill people?" DQ answered : "In order for one to be able to lead people, one has to at least have a certain amount of organisation in oneself."
DQ is the latest in a long line of witnesses testifying in defence of Ruzindana on the basis of the businessman's reputation in the town and a few encounters with him while buying goods at his family's store. Like a number of other witnesses before him, DQ said he had never spoken to Ruzindana and was not a personal friend.
Also like other witnesses before him, DQ described himself as a Hutu refugee who had not returned to Rwanda since the violence that killed half a million people and displaced one-third of the country's population in 1994.
FS/FB/PHD/FH (KY&0831E)
TWO WITNESSES GIVE NEAR IDENTICAL TESTIMONY IN DEFENCE OF FORMER RWANDAN BUSINESSMAN CHARGED WITH GENOCIDE
Arusha, 27th August 98 (FH) - A wealthy businessman on trial for genocide was accused of the crime because of jealousy, two defence witnesses told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Thursday.
Testifying on behalf of Obed Ruzindana, the two witnesses said that the Rwandan businessman may have been accused of orchestrating massacres against the country's Tutsi ethnic group because people wanted his property.
"I think he has been accused because some people are jealous of him," said the 23rd defence witness, who gave anonymous testimony under the pseudonym DT.
DT testified that he did not know Ruzindana personally. "Some people were owing him money and they did not want to pay. Some people were living in his houses and occupying his properties and they want to keep these for themselves."
After an almost-identical testimony, the 24th defence witness, known as DY, denied during cross-examination that he had discussed his testimony with the previous witness.
Judge Sekule, presiding over the court session, said the belief that jealousy was the reason for the genocide accusation was "an opinion and not factual."
DY also testified that Ruzindana fled in a Mercedes Benz to his home town of Mugenero in the days that followed the murder of Rwanda's President Habyarimana, which sparked off the genocide and political violence that killed hundreds of thousands in 1994.
Ruzindana stands trial for directing massacres of hundreds of men, woman and children seeking refuge from the ethnic violence in the hills of the Bisesero area near his home town. He is charged jointly with Clement Kayishema, a doctor and former district official, with, among other things, "extermination" as part of a systematic attack against a civilian population.
FS/FB/PHD/FH (KY&0827E)
GENOCIDE ACCUSED DESCRIBED AS "ALTRUISTIC" AND "RESPONSIBLE"
Arusha, 26th August 1998 (FH) - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) wednesday heard a defence witness describe the former district official (prefet) of Kibuye as "altruistic" and "responsible" character.
An above average level of protection was given to witness DAC, an old friend of the former prefet of Kibuye, Clement Kayishema, in addition to the usual measures of being provided with a pseudonym, the witness gave other personal details in closed court.
Kayishema is jointly charged with former Rwandan businessman Obed Ruzindana. The indictment shows that he played a leading role in a number of large scale massacres in Kibuye prefecture between April and July 1994.
DAC told the court he had met Kayishema when the two men were studying in Europe in 1990, and that they had regularly met with other Rwandans to "share ideas" and talk about the situation in Rwanda.
The witness said he considered the charges against the former prefet "pure orchestrated machination", although he conceded that he had not seen Kayishema during the "events" of 1994 and had no idea what his activities were during that time.
Trial is sheduled to continue tomorrow.
AC/FB/PHD/FH (KY&0826E)
25 AUGUST 1998
PROSECUTION ATTACKS CREDIBILITY OF DEFENCE WITNESS IN GENOCIDE TRIAL
Arusha, 25th August 1998 (FH) - The latest defence witness to appear at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) had his credibility severely undermined Tuesday by tough questioning both from the prosecution and one of the judges.
The witness known only as DV in terms of the ICTR witness protection programme was giving evidence in defence of the former prefet of Kibuye, Clement Kayishema and his co-accused, former businessman Obed Ruzindana.
DV told the court he had lived close to the road some 700 metres from the church in the town of Mubuga, where Kayishema is alleged to have taken a leading role in the massacre of hundreds of unarmed Tutsi men women and children. DV told the court that "the local people went to the church to get food from the refugees there", that he "heard gunshots" on the day of the massacre, but that he did not see Kayishema pass along the road to the church. He admitted, however, that he did not know what car Kayishema drove.
His statements provoked lengthy questioning from Judge Ostrovsky who suggested that DV could not possibly have been watching the road the entire time. DV told the court that "on the basis of what I saw and heard" he believed Kayishema was not guilty of the charges against him, at which the judge asked somewhat incredulously "only on the basis of cars passing?"
Under cross examination by Brenda-Sue Thornton for the prosecution, DV repeatedly refused to acknowledge that the victims of massacres such as those at the church had been mainly Tutsi. He then retracted an earlier statement that he had recognised some of those who went to the church to "look for food", prompting her to ask "is it because you didn't recognise them, or because you don't want to give their names?" Questioned whether, in fact, there was a food shortage at the time, DV conceded that there were "others who came to attack for other reasons".
The apparent weakness of DV's testimony highlights the difficulties being experienced by defence lawyers in locating reliable witnesses and persuading them to testify. The issue was raised directly on Tuesday when Kayishema's lawyer objected strongly to the prosecution asking whether DV had applied for refugee status in the country where he now lived. Saying that the question jeopardised the anonymity of the witness, an outraged Phillip Moriceau said "we already have so many problems getting our witnesses to testify and this kind of questioning will only make things worse."
The trial is scheduled to continue Wednesday, with another seven defence witnesses expected to be called before closing arguments are made.
AC/FB/PHD/FH (KY&0825E)
24 AUGUST 1998
CLOSE FRIEND OF RWANDAN GENOCIDE ACCUSED ATTEMPTS TO PROVIDE ALIBI FOR MULTIPLE MASSACRES Arusha, 24th August 1998 (FH) - A close friend -- or relative -- of former Rwandan prefet (district official) Clement Kayishema told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Monday that he saw Kayishema in town every day during the weeks when massacres were taking place some distance away in Bisesero, reports the Hirondelle Independent Press Agency. The witness known only as DU in terms of the ICTR's witness protection programme said that between May 4th and July 16th 1994, Kayishema left Kibuye town only once, for about six hours "to lead a meeting". DU, whose exact relationship with Kayishema was not made public, said that he stayed at the Kayishema home throughout the period, and worked only fifteen metres away from Kayishema's office. Kayishema's indictment links him to multiple massacres which took place in the Bisesero mountains in Kibuye prefecture between April and July 1994. Witness DU said that despite their close friendship and proximity, he never discussed the killings with Kayishema, something the prosecution described as "surprising". Cross questioned as to whether Kayishema ever went to Bisesero to see what was going on there, DU said he hadn't because "he realised there would be no security for him there", to which the prosecutor replied " you're very well informed for someone who never discussed the situation with him". The witness insisted that he closely observed Kayishema's office while serving in the nearby canteen, that the prefet could not have gone anywhere without him knowing, and that the only time he left town during that time was for six hours to attend a meeting. The prosecution pointed out that DU could not have known where Kayishema went at that time but the witness was adamant that because the prefet was in his suit he must have been going to a meeting. He then added "he also had his briefcase and he had all his documents in the briefcase", an abundance of detail which drew smiles in the court and the public gallery and caused presiding judge William Sekule to ask "what made you so strongly focused on Kayishema's office when you had your duties to attend to?" Kayishema is being jointly tried together with a former businessman Obed Ruzindana, who is also alleged to have been involved in the Bisesero massacres. DU was the twentieth defence witness to have been called in the trial which continues Tuesday. AC/FB/PHD/FH (KY&0824E)
RWANDAN WAR CRIMES TRIALS RESUME WITH DEFENCE OF FORMER BUSINESSMAN CHARGED WITH GENOCIDE
Arusha, 19th August 1998 (FH) - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has resumed court hearings after the mid-year break with two new witnesses called to testify in defence of former Rwandan businessman Obed Ruzindana, says the independent press agency Hirondelle.
Like almost all of the seventeen defence witnesses before them, the two Rwandan men gave evidence under pseudonyms. In keeping with the defence's strategy so far, they testified to having seen and met with Ruzindana at his shop in Kibuye prefecture during the months April to July 1994, portraying him as an ordinary businessman with no interest in political activity.
Ruzindana is being jointly tried with the former Prefet of Kibuye, Clement Kayishema. Their indictment, along with a considerable body of witness evidence, identifies them as having taken part together in large scale massacres in the Bisesero area of Kibuye between April and July 1994.
Defence witness DAA owned a small shop opposite Ruzindana's business in the village of Muganero. While a number of other witnesses have testified to seeing Ruzindana occasionally during the months of the genocide, DAA said he saw him almost every day.
The other defence witness, DZ, heard on Tuesday, had known Ruzindana for many years, and saw him four times during the months in question while passing through Muganero.
As with other witnesses, the prosecution questioned DZ's perception of events in Rwanda at that time. Brenda-Sue Thornton for the prosecution opened her cross examination by asking "do you believe that innocent Tutsi women and children were massacred in Rwanda in 1994?", to which the witness replied "it was mentioned".
While DZ described seeing one person being beaten and stabbed, he was unwilling to identify the victim as a Tutsi. Thornton presented him with his written statement in which he said he had "witnessed attacks on Tutsis" and pointed out that he had changed his testimony in court.
Another eight defence witnesses are expected to be called in this trial, although difficulties in bringing them to Arusha could cause a day's delay on Thursday.
AC/FB/FH (KY&0819E)
JOINT GENOCIDE TRIAL TO RESUME TUESDAY - TEN MORE DEFENCE WITNESSES EXPECTED
Arusha, 17th August 1998 (FH) - The trial of a former Rwandan district official and a former businessman jointly charged with genocide will resume Tuesday at the International criminal tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), says the independent press agency Hirondelle.
Ten more witnesses are expected to testify in defence of the former prefet (district official) of Kibuye, Clement Kayishema and former businessman Obed Ruzindana. Appearing in court Monday after a six week break in the proceedings, lawyers for the two accused said that although some witnesses were present in Arusha, they had not yet had time to interview them and pass on their statements to the prosecution team.
Judge William Sekule gave the defence lawyers until Tuesday afternoon to complete the necessary preparations, and asked them to provide the court as soon as possible with a final list of witnesses. Seventeen defence witnesses have already testified.
Their indictments link Kayishema and Ruzindana to a number of large scale massacres in Kibuye prefecture between April and July 1994.
AC/FB/FH (KY&0817E)
Arusha, 2nd July 1998 (FH) - A psychiatrist testifying before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Thursday conceded under cross examination that there were some shortcomings in the psychiatric evidence he had put before the court, reports.independant agency Hirondelle.
Dr Regis Pouget, a French specialist in psychiatric medicine, had testified in defence of the former prefet (district official) of Kibuye, Clement Kayishema, and his co-accused, former businessman Obed Ruzindana. In addition to examining the accused and providing the court with personality profiles of the two men, Dr Pouget gave a written report and spoke at length about the psychology of crowds and the unreliability of eyewitness identification.
Their indictments and witness evidence before the court indicate that the accused played leading roles in a number of massacres in Kibuye prefecture between April and July 1994.
Under cross examination by the prosecution, Pouget conceded that he had not personally done any research into the issue of the reliability of eyewitness identification, but had merely summarised the research of others which suggested that "memories with a strong emotional charge are less accessible" to a witness. The prosecution, however, presented a version of the same experiment which concluded that there is evidence of "unusually vivid memory around emotionally charged events". Pouget apologised to the court for what he said must have been a poor translation of his source.
He also agreed with the prosecution's argument that his report dealt only with unreliable eyewitness identification of strangers, and that if an aggressor was known to a victim, the reliability of identification might be quite different.
The prosecution challenged Pouget's evidence dealing with "psychological crowds" which he said act spontaneously, without a leader or a plan, and which cannot be controlled except by considerable armed force. Prosecutor James Stewart talked the doctor through scenarios from the Armenian and Jewish genocides and forced him to admit that the phenomenon of the psychological crowd was not an adequate explanation for either. As a result the doctor conceded that there would have to be a "more complex" explanation for the massacres in Rwanda in 1994.
The trial has been adjourned until 17th August to allow the defence team to assemble more witnesses.
AC/AT/PHD/FH (KY&0702e)
1 JULY 1998
ICTR / GENOCIDE ACCUSED ARE NORMAL PEOPLE - PSYCHIATRIST TELLS WAR CRIMES COURT
Arusha, 1st July 1998 (FH) - A French psychiatrist testifying in defence of two men charged with genocide told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Wednesday that there is nothing psychiatrically extraordinary about either of them.
Dr Regis Pouget, a specialist in psychiatric medicine, law and justice concluded a second day of testimony in defence of the former prefet of Kibuye, Clement Kayishema, and former Rwandan businessman Obed Ruzindana with details of a psychiatric examination he had carried out on each of the accused.
Pouget described Ruzindana as being logical and practical but somewhat lacking in intellectual capacity and culture, adding "if he was in the army with me I would not give him a rank above corporal". According to the doctor Kayishema, on the other hand is a man of "superior intelligence: organised, quick and solid with a reliable memory and a coherent flow of thought", a well educated doctor whose grasp of issues such as AIDS prevention and contraception show an interest in "anything that could improve the fate of man".
Their indictments indicate that Kayishema and Ruzindana played a leading role in multiple massacres in the prefecture of Kibuye between April and July 1994.
Dr Pouget prefaced his account of the personalities of the accused with lengthy evidence from his studies of crowd psychology and the unreliability of eyewitness testimony. James Stewart for the prosecution used the opening stages of his cross examination to challenge Dr Pouget's testimony on crowd psychology which had dealt almost exclusively with what Pouget called the "psychological crowd" - a group which is "uncontrollable and unpredictable", and acts without a plan or a leader.
Stewart overturned Pouget's example of football hooligans as a psychological crowd by pointing out such violence is often planned and organised, and got the doctor to concede that the distinctions between types of crowds are not as clear cut as the doctor had suggested. Dr Pouget acknowledged that his report to the court was not exhaustive, but rejected Stewart's suggestion that his evidence contained much personal opinion.
Cross examination of Dr Pouget continues Thursday.
AC/AT/PHD/FH (KY&0701E)
26 JUNE 1998
DEFENCE LAWYERS FACE TOUGH LEGAL CHALLENGE TO BRINGING PSYCHIATRIC EVIDENCE BEFORE RWANDAN WAR CRIMES COURT
Arusha, 26 June 1998 (FH) - Defence lawyers for two men charged with genocide on Friday faced a tough challenge from the prosecution in their bid to bring psychiatric evidence before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.
Defence lawyers for the former prefet (district official) of Kibuye, Clement Kayishema, and former businessman Obed Ruzindana wish to bring before the court the evidence of a French psychiatrist, Dr Pouget. The doctor is due to present next week a report on, amongst other things, aggression and violence in human behaviour, and the psychology of crowds, as well as a psychiatric assessment of the personalities of the accused.
In a complex and intense legal debate, which could set a precedent for the future presentation of evidence from "experts", the prosecution quoted from a copy of the psychiatrist's report and asked the court to rule the evidence inadmissable on the grounds that it is neither relevant or necessary in deciding the guilt or innocence of the accused.
Canadian Prosecutor James Stewart brought up a number of precedents in Canadian law, saying the evidence would "add nothing" to the proceedings, and that it was an attempt to provide "evidence of good character dressed up in psychiatric language". He argued that the court should not hear the expert witness "unless it thinks that, without the evidence, it will not be able to make a correct decision."
French defence lawyers Philippe Moriceau and Pascal Besnier, in whose legal system the use of psychiatric evidence is more routine, said that they had no wish to prove that the accused were psychiatrically exceptional. They argued that personality factors were important, particularly when taken in the context of the accused's responses to factors like authority figures or crowds.
Dr Pouget is already on his way to Arusha. According to presiding judge William Sekule, the court will give it's judgement "maybe Monday" as to whether he will be allowed to testify.
AC/FB/PHD/FH (KY&0626E)
WIFE OF GENOCIDE ACCUSED TELLS WAR CRIMES COURT HER HUSBAND WAS IN HIDING AT TIME OF MASSACRES
Arusha, 24 June 1998 (FH) - The wife of a former district official charged with genocide told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Wednesday that her husband had been in hiding with her at the time of major massacres in his district.
The wife of the former prefet (district official) of Kibuye, Clement Kayishema said that she and her husband had gone into hiding between the 15th and 20th of April 1994 because her husband had received threats from a Tutsi warrant officer who was temporarily in charge of the gendarmes of Kibuye. Under cross examination she changed the date of hiding to the 16th April.
Kayishema's indictment, together with statements from other witnesses, link him to multiple massacres in Kibuye. The indictment specifies large-scale killings at the Catholic Church and Home St Jean Complex and the stadium in Kibuye town on or around the 17th and 18th of April 1994, and to massacres in the Bisesero region of Kibuye between April and July 1994.
Kayishema's wife said that she and her husband heard about the massacres when they were brought out of hiding by a newly arrived commander of the gendarmes, who also informed them of the death of the warrant officer who had threatened Kayishema. From then on, she said, the prefet was protected by the new gendarmes and went about his normal activities.
Under cross-questioning, she rejected a suggestion from prosecution lawyer Brenda-Sue Thornton that the period of hiding actually took place before the massacres, and ended with the death of the Tutsi gendarme and the arrival of reinforcements from Kigali.
The prosecution highlighted inconsistencies between the witness's original statement and her evidence in court, particularly relating to the 13th May 1998, when Kayishema is alleged to have been involved in a massacre in Bisesero (South of the Kibye district). In court his wife went into some detail about a meeting which Kayishema presided over on that date, but then admitted she had forgotten to include "that detail" on her statement.
It was also pointed out that while the witness's statement said that she and her husband had hidden "in the bush for three days", her evidence in court said they had hidden "in different houses" for four or five days. Kayishema's wife conceded that while she had hidden in houses, but that her husband had "hidden elsewhere" and had not always been within eyeshot.
In summarising her husband's attitude to his job as prefet, Kayishema's wife said that when he was appointed in 1992 "he was a medical man. He didn't apply for the job, but he couldn't have refused it. That would have signalled connivance with the enemy". Under cross examination, she agreed with the prosecution lawyer that in 1994, the situation remained essentially the same.
The trial continues tomorrow with the hearing of a motion from the defence.
AC/FB/PHD/FH (KY&0624E)
23 JUNE 1998
WITNESS TO RWANDAN MASSACRES TESTIFIES IN DEFENCE OF FORMER DISTRICT OFFICIAL
Arusha, 23rd June 1998 (FH) - A man who witnessed a number of large-scale massacres in Rwanda has testified on Tuesday before the UN war crimes court in defence of a former district official accused of leading the killings, according to the Hirondelle independent press agency.
The witness known as DO told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that he did not see the former prefet of Kibuye, Clement Kayishema take part in any one of three massacres which he saw take place in Kibuye town.
In a lengthy monologue on Kayishema's standing as prefet of Kibuye, DO described the one time doctor as "soft, almost naïve" adding "he was a Red Cross kind of a guy who got lost in a wave of politics."
Kayishema's indictment and the evidence of previous witnesses indicate that he took part in multiple massacres in Kibuye town and in the southern part of the district known as Bisesero. Together with former Rwandan businessman Obed Ruzindana he is jointly charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Convention.
Unlike most of the other defence witnesses called so far, Witness DO did acknowledge that massacres had taken place at a the Catholic Church and Home St Jean Complex and at the stadium at Kibuye.
DO said that he had seen six or seven hundred bodies near the Church and had himself buried some of them. Like the witnesses before him, however, he still preferred to refer to the events as "fighting" which he said had taken place between "hill billies" or "bandits" and "people who had gone into the stadium and church".
He denied that the crowds were organised, or that Interahamwe militia had been involved, saying " the power was with the strongest - no-one could have controlled it".
Under cross questioning, DO admitted that from his vantage point almost a kilometre away from where the massacre sites, he could not actually have picked out Clement Kayishema in the attacking crowd of "around three thousand".
The defence witness was also forced to concede that his testimony concerning killing and fighting in the Bisesero region of Kibuye was hearsay, as he had not actually been present at the time.
Witness DO's evidence took an unusual turn when he claimed to have been a member of a liberal political party traditionally considered to be close to the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) which invaded Rwanda following the outbreak of massacres in April 1994. He said that up to 1994 he had supported the ideology of the RPF, claiming :"I know them".
DO alleged that Kibuye, and the Bisesero area in particular as being rife with RPA recruits well ahead of the time when the advancing RPF army officially arrived in the area. He said the massacres had their origins in fights between "the people of Kibuye and RPF sympathisers", and described an incident in which RPF T-shirts and paraphernalia had been found in somebody's home, together with a list of RPF "trainees". That person and others on the list were tracked down and killed in the days before the massacres began.
In what he was later forced to admit was hearsay, the witness described the Bisesero area as being a strategic stronghold of the RPF 65th brigade, and said that it was RPF sympathisers who initiated the fighting in that area.
Thousand of Tutsi were killed in Bisesero between April and June 1994.
AC/FB/PHD/FH (KY&0623E)
18 JUNE 1998
"MAN IN THE STREET" GIVES EVIDENCE FOR GENOCIDE ACCUSED AS OTHER WITNESSES SHY AWAY FROM APPEARING
Arusha, 18 June 1998 (FH) - The difficulty of getting effective witnesses to testify for those accused of genocide was highlighted Thursday at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) when a man with no personal knowledge of the accused testified in defence of a former district official, reports the independent press agency Hirondelle.
The witness called "DK" in terms of the witness protection programme was called by defence lawyer Phillipe Moriceau to give evidence in the trial of the former prefet (district official) of Kibuye, Clement Kayishema. DK told the court that he had "never heard" that Kayishema had participated in massacres, and said that in his opinion the prefet was not in control of events in his district at the time the massacres took place.
It became clear in the course of his testimony, however, that the witness had no personal knowledge of Kayishema. Confirming this under cross questioning, DK said "I saw him at a meeting but I never met him, I never shook hands with him or spoke to him".
Questioned after the hearing as to the dubious value of calling such a witness, Moriceau explained that the majority of potential witnesses contacted by him had since refused to testify out of fear for their safety. "Some of them even went so far as to change their box numbers and email addresses after I first contacted them".
The difficulties being experienced by defence lawyers appear to be only marginally offset by protective measures offered by the witness protection programme. Although those in charge of the programme are able to point to the fact that many witnesses have testified and are still alive and well, inadequacies in the programme have drawn criticism from Amnesty International as well as internal assessment reports from the United Nations itself.
AC/FB/PHD/FH (KY&0618E)
17 JUIN 1998
PROSECUTION LEAKS CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION AS WIFE OF RWANDAN GENOCIDE ACCUSED GIVES TESTIMONY
Arusha, 17th June 1998 (FH) - In an embarrassing breach of security, a prosecuting lawyer at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Wednesday leaked confidential information during the testimony of the wife of a former businessman accused of genocide.
According to the routine provisions of the ICTR witness protection programme, the wife of former Rwandan businessman Obed Ruzindana came before the court as a witness for the defence under the pseudonym DG.
Following the procedure usually applied to witnesses who fear for their safety, she gave her testimony shielded from press and public by a screen, and was not required to provide any information about her current home or status.
Toward the end of his cross examination, however, prosecuting attorney Jonah Rahetlah prefaced a question with a statement to the effect that Ruzindana's wife had left Rwanda two years after her husband and had gone to a certain country, which he named.
The witness immediately became agitated, demanding to know why the information had been divulged. Despite Rahetlah's obvious embarrassment and his agreement to withdraw the question, the witness repeatedly demanded an explanation. At the close of her testimony the witness again asked to be heard, a request which the presiding judge was unable to grant in terms of court procedure.
The gaffe is the latest in a series of security breaches which have attracted criticism of the witness protection programme, notably from Amnesty International.
In general, the testimony of Ruzindana's wife echoed that of ten other defence witnesses who painted a picture of Ruzindana as a man simply going about his business during April, June and July of 1994. Ruzindana's indictment links him to large scale massacres in the Rwandan prefecture of Kibuye, and he stands accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Convention.
The prosecution noted that while Ruzindana had fled to Zaire in July 1994, his wife and children had remained in Rwanda for two years under the rule of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). Under cross examination Ruzindana's wife insisted that her husband had had no more reason to fear the RPF than she had. However when asked whether she thought Ruzindana could, after all, have remained in the country she said "I think if he stayed, he wouldn't be alive any more".
The trial continues with the hearing of a witness to testify in the defence of Ruzindana's co-accused, former prefet of Kibuye Clément Kayishema.
AC/FB/PHD/FH (KY&0617E)
16 JUIN 1998
GENOCIDE ACCUSED MAY UNDERGO PSYCHIATRIC EXAMINATION
Arusha, 16th June 1998 (FH) - A motion heard by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Tuesday raised the prospect of psychiatric examination for two men charged with genocide.
Defence lawyers for former Rwandan businessman Obed Ruzindana and the former Prefet of Kibuye Clement Kayishema let it be known end of May that they might bring evidence from a psychiatrist to support their case, but no details were given at the time.
The Prosecution recently tabled a motion asking either that the psychiatrists report be ruled inadmissible evidence, or that full details of the psychiatrists report be made available immediately.
As it turned out, by the time the motion came to court Tuesday, five of the six parts of a report submitted by the psychiatrist, a Mr Pouget, had already been made available to the prosecution.
The sixth part of the report would consist of a psychiatric examination of both accused, and could raise the possibility of a special defence being mounted on psychiatric grounds. Prosecutor James Stewart pointed out that while certain legal systems do not call for a psychiatric examination unless there is evidence of a psychiatric problem, in other systems it is conducted "as a matter of course".
Defence lawyer Philippe Moriceau seemed to confirm this when he said that, even before considering any sort of special defence, a psychiatric examination could help answer the question "what is the personality of the accused?" and whether such a personality could be capable of committing the crimes as charged.
Mr Pouget is scheduled to give evidence later this month, and the court will rule later this week on the amount of time the prosecution will get to prepare cross examination of the psychiatrist.
AC/FB/PHD/FH (KY&0616E)
WAR CRIMES COURT TOLD DISTRICT OFFICIALS HAD "NO REAL POWER" DURING GENOCIDE
Arusha, 28 May 1998 (FH) - A French professor of constitutional law has told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that the role of the prefet (district official) in Rwanda in 1994 had been "watered down" by the system of multipartyism, reports the independent press agency Hirondelle.
Testifying in defence of the former prefet of Kibuye, Clement Kayishema, Professor Michel Guibal of the University of Montpellier told the court that, while he had never been to Rwanda, he based his observations on research conducted specifically for the trial.
He told the court that his work had considered constitutional texts in place at the time as well as "universal principles of public law", and had concluded that the introduction of multipartyism in Rwanda in 1991 had "undermined" the traditional role of the prefet as administrator of state power at the district level.
Under multipartyism, Guibal said, "prefets were appointed on the basis of their political affiliations. Prefectures were shared between parties, so the prefet ceases to be a state representative and becomes a party representative [...]. His status is weakened, his functions and duties are watered down, his powers are reduced in means".
On trial jointly with former Rwandan businessman Obed Ruzindana, Kayishema is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Convention. His indictment links him to massacres at two churches and a stadiumin Kibuye as well as to a series of massacres in the Bisesero region of Rwanda between April and July 1994.
The indictment notes that, as prefet, Kayishema was responsible for maintaining peace, public order and security in Kibuye, and that he had the authority to demand help from the army and gendarmerie, and to place local police under his control.
Guibal asserted that, by 1994, a prefet would have had "no real power" over his local services or forces of law and order.
The case has been adjourned until June 15th.
AC/FB/FH (KY&0528E)
FIRST DEFENCE WITNESS CONCLUDES TESTIMONY FOR RWANDAN BUSINESSMAN ACCUSED OF GENOCIDE
Arusha 12 May 1998 (FH) The first witness called by the defence lawyer for former Rwandan businessman Obed Ruzindana concluded her testimony on Tuesday.
The woman, called witness DA under the witness protection programme of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) presented herself as a long time friend of Ruzindana, who is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and serious violations of the Geneva Convention.
Her testimony revolved around visits she had made to Kibuye prefecture after the beginning of the genocide in Rwanda in April 1994, on which occasions she had met briefly with Ruzindana at his place of business in the village of Muganero. In answer to questions put to her by defence counsel Pascal Besnier as to whether she had ever heard of Ruzindana's involvement in massacres she said "no, I never heard anything about that".
Cross examined by Brenda Sue Thornton for the prosecution, the woman indicated with brief answers that she had no knowledge of any activities conducted by Ruzindana in the Bisesero region, where he is alleged to have taken an active part in large scale killings.
A second defence witness for Ruzindana is scheduled to be called on Wednesday.
AC/FB/FH (KY&0512E)
RWANDAN WAR CRIMES TRIALS
DEFENCE BEGINS IN JOINT TRIAL OF FORMER KEY OFFICIAL AND BUSINESSMAN
Arusha, 11th May 1998 (FH) - Defence lawyers Tuesday called their first witness before The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in the joint trial of the former Prefet (district official) of Kibuye and a former businessman, reports the Swiss-based independent press agency Hirondelle.
Clement Kayishema, the former Prefet of the district of Kibuye, and Obed Ruzindana are charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Convention.
Their joint indictment links the two men specifically to large-scale massacres which were carried out at two churches and a stadium in Kibuye prefecture in April 1994, and in the Bisisero area between April and July 1994.
More than a year after their trial began on 8th April 1997, Ruzindana's defence lawyer Pascal Besnier opened the defence with the observation that the court would be called upon to understand the relationship between the concept of genocide and the individual responsibility of the accused, a relationship which he likened to that between "the mountain and the man".
The first witness called in Ruzindana's defence is a woman who, in terms of the witness protection programme, may not be seen by the public gallery, and who was given the choice of answering certain questions in writing. The trial is sheduled to continue on Tuesday.
AC/FB/FH (KY&0511E)
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