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| * SEPTEMBER 28th 2001
ICTR/NTAKIRUTIMANA
DOCTOR HUNTED AND KILLED TUTSI REFUGEES, SAYS WITNESS
Arusha, September 28th, 2001 (FH) - A genocide survivor told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Friday that medical doctor Gerard Ntakirutimana hunted for and killed Tutsi refugees in Bisesero hills (Kibuye province, western Rwanda) during the genocide.
Gerard Ntakirutimana is being tried with his father Pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana. At the time of the genocide, Gerard was a doctor at the Mugonero Seventh Day Adventist mission hospital in Kibuye. His father was pastor of the Seventh Day Adventist church that lay in the same complex. The two have pleaded not guilty to five counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Witness FF, named as such to protect her identity, told the court that Gerard, accompanied by Interahamwe (extremist Hutu militia), had pursued and killed Tutsi refugees at Murambi, Gitwe, Kidashya, and Mutiti hills in Bisesero.
FF, a Tutsi woman, said she had been an employee of Mugonero Hospital until she fled at the peak of the genocide. She said she had sustained serious injuries on her head and her hands during an attack on the hospital on April 16th, 1994. The witness said she was still haunted by frequent headaches and her fingers had been permanently crippled.
Doctor mistreated Tutsi patients
Witness FF also told the court that on April 15th, 1994, a day before the attack on the hospital complex, Doctor Ntakirutimana, accompanied by the hospital chief of personnel, visited the hospital and "discharged Hutu patients and gave them medicine to take home with them".
The remaining Tutsi patients, FF added, were crowded into one wing of the hospital. The following day, she said, government soldiers and Interahamwe attacked and killed the patients and other Tutsi refugees in the hospital, the chapel and other buildings in the Mugonero Seventh Day Adventist mission. The witness said that among the vehicles that ferried the attackers to the complex was Elizaphan's truck and a truck used by Gerard. Some 5,000 Tutsis were killed in this attack, according to the prosecution.
Meanwhile, Elizaphan's lawyer, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark submitted to the court a motion requesting the dismissal of a protected prosecution witness intending to testify next week. Clark argued that the witness had, during re-confirmation of his testimony, brought up new charges against Elizaphan that had not been included in the indictment. "You can't permit such gross unfairness," Clark told the court.
Prosecutor Charles Philips (Nigeria/UK) objected, saying that the witness had not testified to "new information" but rather "additional information". The court is expected to deliver its ruling next week.
The case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of judges Erik Mose of Norway (presiding), Navanethem Pillay of South Africa and new judge Andrésia Vaz of Senegal.
GG/JC/PHD/NK_0928e)
* SEPTEMBER 26th 2001
TPIR / CYANGUGU
DEFENCE ARGUES AN ALIBI AS CASE OF CYANGUGU THREE IS ADJOURNED
Arusha, September 26th, 2001 (FH) The lawyer for former Rwandan prefect and genocide suspect Emmanuel Bagambiki argued an alibi for his client during cross-examination of a witness at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Tuesday and Wednesday. The so-called Cyangugu trial of Bagambiki and two other accused was meanwhile adjourned to November 19th, to make room for another case.
Bagambiki's Belgian lawyer Vincent Lurquin told the court that his client could not have been in Bugarama (44 kilometres from Cyangugu, southwest Rwanda) as protected witness "LAI" had claimed, because Bagambiki was chairing a high-level meeting at the prefect's office in Cyangugu.
The witness had told the court that the day after the April 6th 'plane crash that killed the former president, Bagambiki and co-accused Lieutenant Samuel Imanishimwe went to Bugarama for a meeting with the population there.
Bagambiki was prefect of Cyangugu at the time of the genocide. Imanishimwe was commander of Cyangugu military barracks. They are on trial with former Transport Minister André Ntagerura, who is also from Cyangugu and also accused of organizing the massacres there.
At the Bugarama meeting, according to Witness LAI, Imanishimwe ordered soldiers not to oppose the Interahamwe (extremist Hutu milita) who were preparing to wipe out the Tutsis in the region. LAI said Imanishimwe even shot at one person himself.
"I personally saw Bagambiki carrying an Uzi gun," LAI continued. Reacting to Lurquin's alibi argument, he said: "I know it as a Rwandan. If he (Lurquin) had been there at the time, he would have been able to tell the court."
Presiding judge Lloyd George Williams of Saint Kitts and Nevis intervened several times to calm the witness down, urging him to answer the questions.
Lurquin also tried to demonstrate a number of contradictions between LAI's oral testimony and his previous statements to ICTR investigators. For example, the lawyer asked LAI to confirm that he had seen Bagambiki arrive in Bugarama on January 28th, 1994, aboard a helicopter full of weapons. These arms were allegedly used during the genocide that started just over two months later.
In his testimony in chief, LAI had said the three accused arrived together in the helicopter, apparently contradicting an earlier version in which he said that Ntagerura arrived alone but that Bagambiki was among those who had gathered to welcome the minister. But the witness refuted any contradiction, saying the ICTR investigators had only asked him who was present.
The case has been adjourned after the hearing of 41 prosecution witnesses. It is before Trial Chamber Three of the ICTR, composed of judges Williams (presiding), Yakov Ostrovsky of Russia and Pavel Dolenc of Slovenia. The court is due next Monday to resume the case of former mayor Laurent Semanza.
GA/AT/JC/PHD/FH (CY_0926E)
SEPTEMBER 25th 2001
ICTR / CYANGUGU
PROSECUTION WITNESS TESTIFIES THAT HE KILLED MANY
Arusha, September 25th, 2001 (FH) - A Rwandan prisoner and self-confessed militiaman testifying in the so-called Cyangugu trial on Tuesday told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that he killed so many people during the 1994 genocide that he could not estimate the number.
"I killed many, I do not remember the number. I can only ask for pardon as I did a lot of harm," protected witness "LAI" told the court.
LAI is the 40th prosecution witness in the trial of three former leaders accused of genocide in Cyangugu, southwest Rwanda. He resumed his testimony on Tuesday, after having it interrupted to accommodate expert witness André Guichaoua, a French sociology professor.
The witness said he had been placed in Rwanda's Category Two list of genocide suspects and had so far spent 15 months in detention. LAI was under cross-examination.
He denied defence lawyers' suggestions that he was testifying in the hope of getting a reduced sentence in Rwanda. LAI also denied he was giving evidence that contradicted his written statements to UN investigators.
The Cyangugu trial groups former prefect Emmanuel Bagambiki, former Transport Minister André Ntagerura and former Cyangugu military barracks commander Samuel Imanishimwe. All have pleaded not guilty to charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for their alleged roles in massacres of Tutsis in Cyangugu during the 1994 genocide.
SW/JC/PHD/FH (CY_0925e)
* SEPTEMBER 26th 2001
ICTR/RUKUNDO
FORMER MILITARY CHAPLAIN PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO GENOCIDE
Arusha, September 26th, 2001 (FH) - Former military chaplain Emmanuel Rukundo on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to four charges of genocide and crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
"I would like to confirm to you that I'm innocent as I have always said loud and clear," the 42-year-old Rukundo told the court at the end of the hearing.
According to his indictment, "Emmanuel Rukundo was known as an extremist. He hated the Tutsi. Since about 1973, he fought against his Tutsi colleagues at the Petit Séminaire of Kabgayi (junior seminary in Gitarama province, central Rwanda)".
At the time of the April to July 1994 genocide in Rwanda, he was serving as a chaplain with the former Rwandan army. The Prosecutor says that in April and May he regularly visited places in Kabgayi where Tutsi refugees had gathered, hunting people to be killed.
"He was always escorted by soldiers and Interahamwe (extremist Hutu militia) while he was hunting Tutsi refugees to kill," reads the indictment. "During his visits he brought a list that he used to call on the Tutsi and control their whereabouts. Afterwards he passed the list to the soldiers and Interahamwe who took the persons included in the list to kill them."
"Emmanuel Rukundo ordered, instigated, encouraged, aided, abetted the searching out of the Tutsi, passing through house by house and visiting the facilities of the diocese of Kabgayi and the parish of Gitarama, to identify the Tutsis to be killed," continues the indictment.
Rukundo is also accused of denouncing his Tutsi colleagues, many of whom were killed, and going to a convent in Butare, southern Rwanda, in May 1994 "to hunt Tutsi who were still alive to kill them".
The Prosecutor quotes him as having said in February 1994 that: "Tutsis are a people to destroy, we must fight against them by all means"; and after the genocide: "They had just got what they deserved… They looked for it."
Rukundo left Rwanda after the victory of the pro-Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in July 1994, which ended the genocide. He took refuge in Switzerland where he was arrested on July 12th this year. Rukundo was transferred to the ICTR detention facility in Arusha last Thursday.
On Wednesday, the accused first tried to get his initial appearance postponed, arguing that he had not had time to understand the "judicial subtleties" of his indictment. However Norwegian judge Erik Mose, sitting alone on the bench, rejected his request.
The accused was represented by Tanzanian duty counsel Bharat Chada. Prosecution was led by Silvana Arbia of Italy.
At the end of the hearing, Rukundo demanded the return of documents and objects he claimed were seized at the time of his arrest. Judge Mose told him he should bring this up through a motion at a later date.
GG/JC/PHD/FH (RK_0926E)
* SEPTEMBER 26th 2001
ICTR / KAMUHANDA
FORMER MINISTER'S TRIAL ADJOURNED TO JANUARY
Arusha, September 26th, 2001 (FH) The genocide trial of former Rwandan minister Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda was on Tuesday postponed to January 28th, 2002, before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), to make room for other cases.
Presiding judge William Sekule of Tanzania explained that the long adjournment was because the court had two other cases scheduled to resume shortly.
Kamuhanda was Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Rwandan interim government in place during the genocide. His case opened on September 3rd this year and has been adjourned after the hearing of 12 prosecution witnesses. Prosecution plans to bring another "thirteen or fourteen" witnesses.
The ICTR's Trial Chamber Two, which is handling his case, is also conducting the trial of former Rwandan mayor Juvénal Kajelijeli, and the joint trial of six people charged with genocide in the southern Rwandan region of Butare.
Kajelijeli's case is due to resume from October 1st to 5th, and the Butare case from October 22nd to November 22nd. That will be followed again by Kajelijeli from November 26th to December 13th, then a judicial break.
Kamuhanda "directed attack"
The twelfth prosecution witness in the Kamuhanda case told the court that the accused had been present at the Protestant parish of Gikomero (Kigali rural prefecture, central Rwanda) when Tutsi refugees were massacred there on April 12th, 1994, and that Kamuhanda's arrival had signalled the start of the slaughter.
The witness, dubbed "GEG" to shield his identity, said he was a Tutsi who had lost all his family in 1994. He said he did not know Kamuhanda personally but said when the accused arrived at Gikomero the refugees had all cried out his name, saying that their time had come because Kamuhanda was arriving.
The defence tried to demonstrate contradictions between GEG's oral testimony and his previous statements to ICTR investigators. However, the witness said investigators had not written his words down accurately.
Most of the previous witnesses also accused Kamuhanda of having directed the April 12th attack on Gikomero. The accused's lawyers plan to bring an alibi in his defence. Kamuhanda is defended by Aicha Condé of Guinea and Grace Amakye of Britain.
Trial Chamber Two is composed of judges Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho.
BN/JC/PHD/FH (KH_0926E)
SEPTEMBER 25th 2001
ICTR/NTAKIRUTIMANA
PASTOR LURED REFUGEES TO DOOMED CHURCH COMPLEX, SAYS WITNESS
Arusha, September 25th, 2001 (FH) - Seventh Day Adventist pastor and genocide suspect Elizaphan Ntakirutimana lured Tutsi refugees to a church complex that was later to be attacked by a force he led, a prosecution witness told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Tuesday.
Some 5,000 Tutsis were killed in the attack on Mugonero Seventh Day Adventist complex (Kibuye prefecture, western Rwanda) on April 16th, 1994, according to the prosecution.
Pastor Elizaphan is being jointly tried with his son Gerard Ntakirutimana. At the time of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Elizaphan was pastor of the Seventh Day Adventist church at Mugonero. Gerard was a doctor at the infirmary which lay in the same complex. The two are charged with five counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed during the 1994 genocide.
Witness 'HH', named as such to shield his identity, said that the Tutsis invited to take refuge at Mugonero had initially fled to Bisesero hills and other places in Kibuye. HH said Pastor Elizaphan had asked him personally to go and persuade Tutsis, especially employees of the complex, to come to Mugonero so their security could be ensured.
"I personally convinced four people to come back," HH told the court. About three days later, he said, "Pastor Ntakirutimana and Gerard arrived at the complex driving two truckloads of gendarmes (military police) and armed civilians." The people in the vehicles, together with other attackers, then started shooting and killing the refugees, the witness continued.
HH is the fifth prosecution witness. He told the court he was a Tutsi survivor of the attack on Mugonero. At the height of the killings there, HH said, he hid in the ceiling of the infirmary.
This trial began on September 18th 2001. Prosecutors have said they plan to call a total of 24 witnesses.
The case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of judges Erik Mose of Norway (presiding), Navanethem Pillay of South Africa and new judge Andrésia Vaz of Senegal. Judge Pillay is currently away for a week on mission.
GG/JC/PHD/NK_0925e)
* SEPTEMBER 26th 2001
ICTR / NDINDABAHIZI
FORMER RWANDAN FINANCE MINISTER TRANSFERRED TO UN TRIBUNAL
Arusha, September 26th, 2001 (FH) - Former Rwandan Finance Minister and genocide suspect Emmanuel Ndindabahizi was on Tuesday transferred from Belgium to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) detention facility in Arusha, northern Tanzania.
Ndindabahizi, 51, was arrested in Belgium on July 12th, 2001, at the ICTR's request. He tried to fight transfer to the UN Tribunal but lost his case in a Belgian court.
Ndindabahizi is charged with five counts of genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide and extermination and murder as crimes against humanity.
According to his indictment, Ndindabahizi is accused having "led or directly participated" in attacks on Tutsis in his home province of Kibuye, western Rwanda, during the 1994 genocide. He is also charged with having incited hatred of Tutsis, supplied weapons to genocidal militias andparticipated in manning roadblocks to search and kill Tutsis.
Two other genocide suspects were also arrested in Europe at the ICTR's request on the same day as Ndindabahizi: musician Simon Bikindi in the Netherlands and former military chaplain Emmanuel Rukundo in Switzerland.
Rukundo has since been transferred to the ICTR. His initial appearance is scheduled on Wednesday. Bikindi lost his suit in the Netherlands against transfer, and is expected to be brought to Arusha shortly.
GG/JC/PHD//FH (NB)_0926E)
* SEPTEMBER 25th 2001
ICTR/ BAGILISHEMA
ACQUITTED MAYOR SAYS APPEAL SHOULD BE THROWN OUT
Arusha, September 25th, 2001 (FH) Acquitted former mayor Ignace Bagilishema has asked the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Appeals Court to throw out a Prosecutor's appeal against his acquittal, Bagilishema's lawyer told Hirondelle in a message received Tuesday.
"We've lodged a motion to have the Prosecutor's appeal declared inadmissible for lack of grounds," said François Roux of France. "As you know, the ICTR's Rules of Procedure and Evidence say that a notice of appeal must set forth the grounds. But we don't think three paragraphs with no details of fact or of law can be considered as having done so."
Bagilishema is the first person to be acquitted of genocide charges by the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). On June 7th this year, the court ordered his immediate release, but attached conditions after the Prosecutor announced her intention to appeal and asked that Bagilishema be kept in custody. The conditions include two persons of high moral standing to guarantee that he will turn up in court. He must also hand in his passport and report regularly to the police.
Bagilishema has remained in UN custody, as various countries refused requests to take him in. However France, which turned down a first request, last week changed tack and said it would take him.
"This decision honours France and is an important step in cooperation between the (UN member) States and the Tribunal," Roux told Hirondelle. "I hope it will set a precedent and that in the future we won't have to wait three months after an acquittal to see the acquitted person set free. The defence team thanks everyone who has worked to get this decision and looks forward to soon seeing Ignace Bagilishema a free man, back with his family."
JC/PHD/FH (BS_0925e)
*SEPTEMBER 24th 2001
ICTR/NTAKIRUTIMANA
PASTOR ORDERED DESTRUCTION OF CHURCH ROOF TO EXPOSE REFUGEES, SAYS WITNESS
Arusha, September 24th, 2001 (FH) - Genocide suspect Pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana ordered the destruction of a church roof to expose Tutsi refugees to rain in the west Rwandan province of Kibuye during the 1994 genocide, a witness told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Monday.
Seventh Day Adventist Elizaphan Ntakirutimana is being jointly tried with his son Gerald Ntakirutimana. At the time of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Elizaphan was pastor of the Seventh Day Adventist church at Mugonero in Kibuye. Gerald was a medical doctor at the infirmary which lay in the same complex. The two are charged with five counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed during the 1994 genocide.
The church allegedly destroyed on the orders of Elizaphan was in Murambi district in Kibuye. Protected prosecution witness "GG", dubbed as such to shield his identity, said that Elizaphan had come to the church in the company of his son Gerard.
Witness GG further testified that Elizaphan and Gerard had led militia attacks on Mubuga, Muyira, and Rwiramba hills in Kibuye. In the attack on Mubuga, said GG, the two accused drove two truckloads of militiamen to a school where Tutsis had taken refuge. "They killed people until evening," GG said of the militia. The witness also said the militia had come to the school chanting "attack them, exterminate them".
GG told the court that he was a survivor of the attacks in Mugonero area. He also said that he had attended Elizaphan's church and had been baptized by Elizaphan.
Unreliable testimony?
At the beginning of cross-examination, Gerard's American lawyer Edward Medvene urged the court to throw out the whole of GG's testimony, saying that the same witness had appeared in an earlier case before the ICTR when his testimony was dismissed as unreliable. GG apparently testified in the case of former Kibuye prefect Clement Kayishema and businessman Obed Ruzindana.
The prosecution objected to the defence request, saying that the witness was currently testifying on different events and different accused.
The Chamber ruled that defence was free to challenge the witness's credibility during cross-examination and its closing arguments. Presiding judge Erik Mose of Norway said the court would take note of the defence and prosecution arguments during final evaluation of the testimony.
The case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of judges Erik Mose of Norway (presiding), Navanethem Pillay of South Africa and new judge Andrésia Vaz of Senegal. Judge Pillay is currently away for a week on mission.
GG/JC/PHD/FH (NK_0924e)
*SEPTEMBER 21st 2001
ICTR/CYANGUGU
GENOCIDE SUSPECT WAS ALL-POWERFUL, SAYS WITNESS
Arusha, September 21st, 2001 (FH) - Genocide suspect and former commander of Cyangugu military barracks Samuel Imanishimwe was so powerful that he appeared to be giving orders "at all times" during the 1994 Rwanda massacres, an expert witness for the prosecution told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Friday.
French sociology professor André Guichaoua told the court that Imanishiwe was known to have organised a number of massacres in Cyangugu, southwest Rwanda in 1994. The witness was testifying for the third day in the so-called Cyangugu trial, which groups Imanishimwe, former Transport Minister André Ntagerura and former prefect Emmanuel Bagambiki
All have pleaded not guilty to charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for their alleged roles in massacres of Tutsis in Cyangugu during the genocide.
Guichaoua told the court Imanishimwe had said he had the approval of prefect Bagambiki "to launch work". The term work was used to mean killing of Tutsis during the genocide.
The witness said prefect Bagambiki was referred to as the "dog of Imanishimwe", apologising for having to use such a term in court.
In cross-examination, Imanishimwe's lead defence counsel Marie-Louise Mbida of Cameroon maintained that Guichaoua was jumping to conclusions and that some of his statements were exaggerated and unfounded. But the witness maintained his position. "These are facts, not unfounded statements," Guichaoua said.
Guichaoua gave the example of an incident in Bugarama (Cyangugu) where soldiers in the company of Imanishimwe surrounded a factory as people were killed inside. He said the soldiers prevented people from going in to assist the victims, only allowing Interahamwe militia to enter.
Guichaoua said that thanks to family connections and ties with the military in Ruhengeri, northwest Rwanda (stronghold of the then-regime), Imanishimwe had powers surpassing his actual rank and seniority in the military. He also said he believed that Imanishimwe enjoyed confidence at the government level.
During cross-examination, Mbida referred to a gendarme, Lieutenant Colonel Bavugamenshi, whom Guichaoua had said was opposed to the massacres but asked to be transferred to Cyangugu. She asked the witness to explain this apparent contradiction, if Imanishimwe was so powerful.
Guichaoua responded that as a native of Cyangugu, Bavugamenshi had family and military ties in the region.
Guichaoua also told the court that Imanishimwe had the means to leave Cyangugu if he had wanted to. Defence counsel maintained that there was a death penalty for deserting soldiers. But Guichaoua said others had deserted and were still alive.
The hearing continues on Monday, before Trial Chamber Three of the ICTR, composed of judges Lloyd George Williams of St. Kitts and Nevis (presiding), Yakov Ostrovsky of Russia and Pavel Dolenc of Slovenia.
The chamber sat exceptionally on Friday to try to ensure that Guichaoua completes his testimony on Monday. The 40th witness, a self confessed militiaman detained in Rwanda for involvement in the genocide, is expected to resume his unfinished testimony on Tuesday. His testimony was postponed to accommodate the expert witness.
SW/JC/PHD/FH (CY_0921E)
*SEPTEMBER 21st 2001
ICTR / RUKUNDO
SWITZERLAND HANDS PRIEST TO RWANDA TRIBUNAL
Arusha, September 21st, 2001 (FH) A Rwandan priest arrested in Switzerland at the request of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was on Thursday transferred to the United Nations Detention Facility (UNDF) in Arusha, Tanzania, official sources confirmed.
Former catholic military chaplain Emmanuel Rukundo is wanted for genocide and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Following his arrest on July 12th this year, he mounted a legal challenge through the Swiss courts. However, the federal court there dismissed his appeal against transfer to the ICTR.
Rukundo is the first catholic clergyman to be arrested by the ICTR. A catholic priest, Athanase Seromba, has also been indicted and the ICTR is pressing Italy to arrest him.
Already in detention are an Anglican bishop, Samuel Musabyimana, and a Seventh Day Adventist pastor, Elizaphan Ntakirutimana. Pastor Elizaphan's joint trial with his son began before the ICTR last Tuesday.
The ICTR Prosecutor charges Rukundo with four counts of genocide or, alternatively complicity in genocide; murder and extermination as crimes
against humanity.
AT/JC/FH (RK_0921e)
*SEPTEMBER 20th 2001
TANZANIA/ RWANDA/ NTUYAHAGA
FIND A BETTER WAY TO DIE, WITNESS TELLS RWANDA EXTRADITION CANDIDATE
Dar es Salaam, September 21st, 2001 (FH) A second witness testifying against the extradition to Rwanda of former army officer Bernard Ntuyahaga on Friday told a Tanzanian court that the defendant should find a better way of killing himself than going back to Rwanda and being cut to pieces.
Burundian Roman Catholic priest Juvénal Bamboneyeho also told the Resident Magistrate Court in Dar es Salaam that Ntuyahaga could not have murdered former Rwandan prime minister Agathe Uwingiliyimana at the start of the 1994 genocide because she was a fellow southerner, unlike most of the people in power at the time.
"How could he kill the only authority who is from the South like himself?" asked Father Juvénal. "For whose interest could he do that?"
Rwanda wants Ntuyahaga in connection with the killing of Uwingiliyimana and 10 Belgian UN peacekeepers in Kigali on April 7th, 1994. Kigali lodged its extradition request to Tanzania more than two years ago.
Father Juvénal said that the presumption of innocence did not exist in Rwanda and that those who went back were either killed or left to languish in prison.
"People are being pre-judged," said the witness. He gave as examples businessman Froduald Karamira, who was forced back to Rwanda, tried and then executed; and former Justice Minister Agnès Ntamabyaliro who was brought back forcibly during the first war in Congo (DRC) and thrown into jail. She has not yet been tried.
The witness was responding to questions from Ntuyahaga's co-counsel Professor Jwan Mwaikusa of Tanzania. Ntuyahaga's defence is led by Luc de Temmerman of Belgium.
Father Juvénal lived in Rwanda for 22 years, from 1972 to June 1994. He said he had to leave Gitarama, where he was working as parish priest, onJune 10th after hearing that the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) had killed three bishops and 11 priests in the neighbouring town of Kabgayi.
He said he knew Major Ntuyahaga for six months when the defendant was commanding a military base in Gitarama, and that they used to drink together in the evening after work.
However, the witness said he did not know Ntuyahaga's whereabouts on April 7th, 1994. "I was not in Kigali, how would I know?" he said in response to questioning from State Attorney Amma Munisi.
Asked the source of his information on Rwanda, the witness said it came from documentation and media reports, including Vatican Radio. Prosecution claimed that it was therefore based on hearsay.
Father Juvénal is the second witness to testify in Ntuyahaga's defence. A Belgian who worked in Rwanda for seven years also told the court on Wednesday that Ntuyahaga would be killed if he were sent to Rwanda.
The hearing was adjourned to November 26th, when the defence expected to bring two or three more witnesses. They are expected to be the last.
NI/JC/PHD/FH (NU_0921e)
*SEPTEMBER 20th 2001
ICTR / CYANGUGU
LEADERS WERE KEY ELEMENTS IN KILLINGS, SAYS EXPERT WITNESS
Arusha, September 20th, 2001 (FH) - Two genocide suspects and former leaders in Cyangugu, south-west Rwanda, were respected authorities, key to the organisation of massacres in their region, an expert prosecution witness told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Wednesday and Thursday.
The 41st prosecution witness, French sociology professor André Guichaoua, told the court that during the time of the 1994 massacres "Rwanda became the Republic of prefects." Prefects were heads of regional provinces.
Guichaoua, a professor at the University of Science and Technology in Lille, France, was testifying in the so-called Cyangugu trial. The case groups former Transport Minister André Ntagerura, former Cyangugu military commander Samuel Imanishimwe, and former Cyangugu prefect Emmanuel Bagambiki. They have pleaded not guilty to genocide charges.
The witness said that Ntagerura and Bagambiki were very powerful in Cyangugu. "Prefect Bagambiki was not just anyone," said Guichaoua. The witness said Bagambiki came from Cyangugu, unlike his predecessor, and had much influence there.
Guichaoua told the court that Bagambiki and two others opened a bank account five days after the interim government sent a letter to all prefects in May 1994. The letter, he said, was on "national security and civil defence" and was signed by former Prime Minister Jean Kambanda.
The ICTR sentenced Kambanda to life imprisonment in 1998, after he pleaded guilty to genocide. Kambanda led the government in place during the genocide that started with the April 6th 1994, downing of the former president's 'plane.
The witness said Bagambiki could easily have fled to ex- Zaire if he had wanted to disassociate himself with the genocide, but there was no indication he tried to oppose the massacres. Cyangugu is on the border with ex-Zaire.
On Ntagerura, Guichaoua said the former minister never lost political power on the ground. Guichaoua quoted another Cyangugu leader as having called Ntagerura "the Ambassador of Cyangugu in Kigali".
He said that as minister, Ntagerura was in charge of logistical means including the state-owned telephone company Rwandatel and the public transport company ONATRACOM.
The hearing continued on Friday before Trial Chamber Three of the ICTR with defence lawyers cross-examining the witness.
SW/JC/PHD/FH (CY_0920e)
*SEPTEMBER 20th 2001
ICTR/NTAKIRUTIMANA
DOCTOR KILLED HOSPITAL ACCOUNTANT, SAYS WITNESS
Arusha, September 20th, 2001 (FH) Rwandan genocide suspect Doctor Gerard Ntakirutimana shot and killed the accountant of the hospital where he worked during the 1994 genocide, a witness told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Thursday.
Doctor Gerard is being tried jointly with his father Elizaphan Ntakirutimana. At the time of the genocide, Elizaphan was Pastor of Seventh Day Adventist church in Mugonero, Kibuye prefecture, while Gerard was a doctor at the infirmary which lay in the same complex. The two have pleaded not guilty to five counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The witness, dubbed "GG" to protect his identity, said the killing of the accountant Charles took place at some time in April 1994, after the genocide started. "He (Gerard) called out to Charles," GG told the court. "Charles turned towards him, and he immediately shot him in the chest."
GG also testified that Pastor Elizaphan had driven a truckload of militiamen to the church complex to kill Tutsis that had sought refuge there.
The previous prosecution witness, "MM", had earlier admitted under cross-examination that Gerard helped a young Tutsi boy to flee at the peak of the killings in Mugonero. "I recognize that in fact it was a good gesture because the boy is still alive," said MM.
Gerard's American defence lawyer Edward Medvene also challenged MM's testimony that Doctor Gerard had ordered the cutting of the telephone connection to Mugonero complex at the time Tutsis were taking refuge there.
Medvene suggested that the telephone connection had been cut by Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) Tutsi guerillas rather than by Doctor Gerard. However, MM insisted he had seen someone sent by Gerard cut the phone line from within the complex.
Medvene also put to the witness that contrary to MM's testimony, the water supply to the complex had not been cut on Gerard's orders. "How could he have done this when his family used the same supply line?" asked the lawyer. The witness responded that Gerard and other staff members in the complex could have relied on reserve tanks for water.
The trial continues on Monday with the testimony of GG. At the end of Thursday's session, presiding Judge Erik Mose of Norway said only two judges would sit on the case at the beginning of next week, as Judge Navanethem Pillay of South Africa will be away on mission.
The case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of judges Mose (presiding), Pillay and new judge Andrésia Vaz of Senegal.
GG/JC/phd/FH (NK_0920e)
*SEPTEMBER 20th 2001
ICTR/ BAGILISHEMA
FRANCE CONFIRMS IT WILL TAKE ACQUITTED RWANDAN MAYOR
Arusha, September 20th, 2001 (FH) France on Thursday confirmed it has agreed to receive former Rwandan mayor Ignace Bagilishema, the first person to be acquitted of genocide charges by the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Paris says it will host him on a temporary basis until the Prosecutor's appeal is heard.
"This decision was taken in the spirit of cooperation which France has always had towards the Tribunal, also in the superior interests of international criminal justice and its fundamental principles, which includes the presumption of innocence," said François Rivasseau, spokesman for the French Foreign Ministry. "Mr. Bagilishema will be received and will be able to stay in France until the appeal hearing."
Bagilishema was acquitted of all charges against him on June 7th this year. The court ordered his immediate release, but attached conditions after the Prosecutor announced her intention to appeal and asked that Bagilishema be kept in custody. The conditions include two persons of high moral standing to guarantee that he will turn up in court. He must also hand in his passport and report regularly to the police.
France turned down an earlier request to host Bagilishema, despite being the only country where the court's conditions could be satisfied. Other countries, including the United States and several Scandinavian countries, also said they would not take him. Bagilishema has thus remained in ICTR custody. The ICTR then asked Paris to reconsider its position.
Informed sources told Hirondelle an official letter from French Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine has now been handed to ICTR Vice-President Erik Mose of Norway, who is also president of the Trial Chamber that acquitted Bagilishema.
Spokesman Rivasseau pointed out that there is no provision for acquittal in the ICTR Statute. "No provision of the ICTR Statutes foresaw this situation," he told journalists. "The Registrar of the ICTR asked Mr Hubert Védrine in June to receive Mr. Bagilishema on our territory, ensuring the necessary conditions of security and judicial control. All other countries that the Tribunal had approached (…) having turned down the request, the Tribunal renewed its decision to France which accepted."
Bagilishema was arrested in February 1999 in South Africa. He was mayor of Mabanza, western Rwanda, from February 1980 to July 1994. Bagilishema is married with six children.
JC/PHD/FH (BS_0920f)
*SEPTEMBER 20th 2001
ICTR/FRANCE/BAGILISHEMA
FRANCE TO TAKE ACQUITTED RWANDAN MAYOR
Arusha, September 20th, 2001 (FH) - Informed sources in Paris say France has agreed to take in former Rwandan mayor Ignace Bagilishema, the first person to be acquitted of genocide charges by the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on June 7th this year. Bagilishema is still in ICTR custody, seeking a host country.
The ICTR ordered Bagilishema released but imposed conditions, after the Prosecutor said she would appeal. France is the only country so far where these conditions are known to have been satisfied.
Paris earlier said it would not take Bagilishema, but was asked to reconsider its position. ICTR spokesman Kingsley Moghalu told Hirondelle that the Tribunal was waiting for official confirmation of the news.
Neither official French sources nor Bagilishema's French lawyer François Roux could be immediately reached for comment.
JC/PHD/FH (BS_0920E)
*SEPTEMBER 19th 2001
RWANDA/ TANZANIA/ NTUYAHAGA
WITNESS SAYS NTUYAHAGA WOULD BE KILLED IF SENT TO RWANDA
Dar es Salaam, September 19th, 2001 (FH) - The first defence witness in the extradition hearing of former Rwandan army officer Major Bernard Ntuyahaga told a Tanzanian court on Wednesday that Ntuyahaga would be killed if he went to Rwanda.
"If he goes to Rwanda, one thing he can be sure ofis that he will facea death sentence," Belgian Christian De Beule told Kisutu Resident Magistrate court in Dar es Salaam.
The Rwandan government wants Ntuyahaga in connection with the murder of former Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and ten Belgian UN peacekeepers on April 7th, 1994, in Kigali.
Witness De Beule told the court that Ntuyahaga would not get a fair trial in Rwanda because the courts were not impartial, there was no guarantee he would be defended and there was an alleged network of people forced to give false testimony. He was responding to questions from Ntuyahaga’s co- counsel, Professor Jwan Mwaikusa.
"If there is any acquittal, then the victim is likely to be killed on the hills of Rwanda," De Beule continued. He also alleged that Rwandan authorities used their Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) to torture people.
De Beule worked as a construction engineer in Rwanda for seven years until he left on April 12th, 1994. Asked by the State Attorney Amma Minis why he had come to testify, he said he decided to do so because he had a lot of information on Rwanda which might assist the court in delivering justice.
The witness said his information came from various non-governmental organizations including one he belonged to called Save Our Soul Rwanda and Burundi (SOS). He said he had information about Rwanda both before and after the genocide.
However, he admitted under cross-questioning that he neither knew Ntuyahaga nor knew what the suspect was doing between April 7th and 12th, 1994.
The witness concluded his testimony and the court was adjourned to Friday, when a second witness will be called to testify. This witness, Belgian priest Juvénal Bamboneyeho, told Hirondelle on Tuesday that he lived in Rwanda for 22 years, from 1972 to June 1994.
The defence, led by Belgian lawyer Luc De Temmerman, has secured only the two witnesses for this session of hearings before Tanzanian judge Projestus Rugazia.
Major Ntuyahaga was released by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on technical grounds on March 18th, 1999 but was re-arrested by the Tanzanian authorities on immigration charges and for consideration of extradition requests.
Both Belgium and Rwanda put in an extradition request. Tanzanian authorities rejected the Belgian one, saying bilateral accords provided for suspects to be extradited only to the country where their alleged crimes were committed.
NI/JC/FH (NU_0919e)
*SEPTEMBER 19th 2001
ICTR/NTAKIRUTIMANA
PASTOR LED ATTACKERS TO KILL TUTSI REFUGEES, SAYS WITNESS
Arusha, September 19th, 2001 (FH) - Seventh Day Adventist pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana led an armed attack on Tutsi refugees at a church complex during the 1994 genocide, a witness told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Wednesday. Some 5,000 Tutsis died in this attack, according to ICTR prosecutors.
Elizaphan Ntakirutimana is being jointly tried with his son Gerard. At the time of the genocide in Rwanda, Elizaphan was pastor of the Seventh Day Adventist church at Mugonero in the west Rwandan province of Kibuye. Gerard was a doctor at the infirmary which lay in the same complex. The two have pleaded not guilty to five counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The third prosecution witness, dubbed "MM" to protect his identity, is a former employee at the Mugonero mission complex. He told the court that he had survived the attack by hiding among dead bodies. "On the morning of April 16th, 1994, he (Pastor Elizaphan) came in a pick-up car with five or six gendarmes," MM told the court. "The gendarmes then began shooting into the refugees."
MM told the court that he had lost his father, wife and daughter in the attack. The Tutsis, comprising mostly women and children, had taken refugee at the complex following the April 6th downing of the president's plane that sparked the genocide.
Prior to the attack, MM told the court, several Tutsi Seventh Day Adventist pastors, including his own father, had written a letter to Elizaphan begging him to ask the mayor to provide protection.
"We wish to inform you that we have heard that tomorrow we will be killed with our families," reads part of the letter, as produced by prosecution. "We therefore request you to intervene on our behalf and talk with the mayor."
Witness MM broke down in tears when the prosecutor provided him with a copy of the letter to identify.
The witness further testified that at the time of the attack, water and telephone connections serving the complex had been cut on Doctor Gerard's orders. "The hospital no longer operated…Gerard knew he was simply punishing the Tutsi refugees," MM told the court.
MM continued his testimony under cross-examination from the pastor's defence counsel, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark.
Two other witnesses have testified since the trial began on Tuesday. Prosecution investigators Upendva Bhagel of India and Antonio Maria Lucassen of the Netherlands both testified on photographs, sketches and a video of alleged crime scenes mentioned in the indictment against the two accused. The prosecution is scheduled to bring a total of 24 witnesses.
The case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of judges Erik Mose of Norway (presiding), Navanethem Pillay of South Africa and new judge Andrésia Vaz of Senegal.
GG/JC/PHD/FH (NK_0919E)
*SEPTEMBER 18th 2001
ICTR / CYANGUGU
EXPERT WITNESS TO INTERRUPT DETAINEE'S TESTIMONY
Arusha, September 18th, 2001 (FH) The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Tuesday granted the prosecution in the so-called Cyangugu trial leave to call an expert witness whose appearance will interrupt the on-going testimony of a detained witness.
Amidst objections by the defence, the chamber allowed the prosecution to present on Wednesday a university don, Andre Guichaoua, and postpone the testimony of the current prosecution witness LAI to next week.
LAI, a self-confessed Interahamwe militiaman, is in detention in Rwanda for participating in the 1994 genocide. He started his testimony on Monday. The Cyangugu trial groups former Transport Minister André Ntagerura, former Cyangugu military commander Samuel Imanishimwe, and former Cyangugu prefect Emmanuel Bagambiki.
The witness was responding to cross-questioning from Ntagerura's defence when prosecution made its appeal.
Ugandan prosecutor Richard Karegyesa requested that Guichaoua a professor at the University of Science and Technology in Lille, France, testify at this point because he would not be available later.
All defence teams objected saying that the interruption would disturb their cross-questioning work. Imanishimwe's Cameroonian defence counsel Marie Louise-Mbida asked the court to let Guichaoua testify in November together with other expert witnesses, instead of interrupting the current witness.
However, the chamber ruled that LAI should wait and Guichauoua testify from Wednesday. The court said it would exceptionally sit on Friday to accommodate the situation and ensure that Guichauoua completes his testimony by next Monday. LAI is expected to continue on Tuesday.
In his testimony, LAI told the chamber of meetings where leaders including Ntagerura allegedly plotted the killing of Tutsis. In response to Ntagerura's lead defence counsel Benoit Henry of Canada, LAI said he witnessed Ntagerura give orders on the telephone to a militia leader called Yusuf Munyakazi.
Henry maintained that LAI was "creating the events". He said that in his written statements to investigators, LAI mentioned a "fax message" and not a telephone conversation as he told the court.
The hearing is before Trial Chamber Three of the ICTR, composed of judges Lloyd George Williams of St Kitts and Nevis (presiding), Yakov Ostrovsky of Russia and Pavel Dolenc of Slovenia.
SW/JC/PHD/FH (CY_0918E)
*SEPTEMBER 18th 2001
ICTR / NTAKIRUTIMANA
PASTOR AND DOCTOR ARE GOOD MEN, SAY LAWYERS
Arusha, September 18th, 2001 (FH) Genocide charges against Seventh Day Adventist pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana and his son Gérard do not make sense in terms of their lives and characters, lawyers for the accused told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), as their trial opened on Tuesday.
Former US Attorney General Ramsay Clark for Pastor Elizaphan, and Edward Medvene (US) for Doctor Gerard, portrayed their clients as good men, who were not involved in politics, promoted tolerance and had nothing to gain by participating in genocide.
"When the accused here are evaluated, just from their personal backgrounds, it's extremely difficult, it's dumbfounding and would lead to enormous pessimism, to believe that they could be swept up into the conduct alleged here," Clark pleaded. He suggested reasons why prosecution witnesses might give false testimony in the context of continuing regional conflict, while Medvene urged the court to "suspend judgement" during presentation of the prosecution case.
The father and son are charged with five counts of conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, crimes against humanity and serious violations of the Geneva Conventions (war crimes). In an opening speech earlier in the day, prosecutor Charles Philips described them as "predators, who delivered thousands to their deaths and actually committed murders themselves".
In particular, the two are accused of luring Tutsis to the Mugonero church and hospital complex where they worked, and conspiring with local authorities to have the refugees massacred. According to the Prosecutor, the two men were part of a convoy of attackers that arrived in Mugonero on April 16th, 1994, and slaughtered hundreds of Tutsi refugees there.
However, Clark told the court that Pastor Elizaphan was "involved in saving souls, just as Gerard Ntakirutimana was involved in saving lives". He said his client "never had a weapon, never possessed a weapon, couldn't wring the neck of a chicken", while Medvene said Gerard "didn't take part in any violence in any sense at any place or any time".
As the genocide began and violence spiralled outwards from Kigali, Clark said Pastor Elizaphan continued his church work, but by April 15th the situation in Mugonero had become desperate and people could sense danger. It was then that he received a letter from seven Tutsi pastors urging him to go to the local mayor and ask for protection, because they had heard they would be killed the following day with their families.
According to the Prosecutor, the Pastor sent a cold reply telling the letter-writers he could do nothing and that their fate was sealed, "or words to that effect".
However, according to Clark, Pastor Elizaphan went to see mayor Charles Sikubwabo early in the morning and fetched him from home, only to be told that the mayor could do nothing. "It was the most painful message he had ever had," said Clark.
Then, according to the lawyer, Elizaphan "sped" back to Mugonero and wrote out a message to the pastors who had asked for his help "to say that he had done so". "He told them the burgomaster (mayor) could do nothing, that they must act to save themselves and quoted from the Scripture," said Clark. But by that time, he continued, there were "large angry crowds" in Mugonero and the pastor could not reach the Tutsi pastors. He gave the hand-written note to a gendarme to deliver, according to Clark.
After that he was warned his life was in danger and left for nearby Gishyita. He, his wife, Gerard and those with them "were chased, stoned and had things thrown at them", Clark told the court. They went to Gishyita, where they stayed until April 27th, according to the defence, then returned to Mugonero and the devastation there.
Clark said his client remained in Mugonero until July 17th, trying to do what he could, but was never in the nearby Bisesero hills. According to the prosecution, the father and son also helped to track and kill Tutsis who had taken refuge in Bisesero.
False testimony?
Clark said it was clear from prosecution witness statements that they would contradict the defendants' version of events and that "we have to ask why this could happen". He suggested that there were many possible reasons, in the context of a continuing conflict that had extended into the Democratic Republic of Congo, and which was, in his eyes, a political power struggle.
"You can understand the passions that still drive people," he told the court, "those who are seeking power, seeking to consolidate and maintain their positions or to rewrite (history) as essential to their standing in the international community." He said that the genocide trials in Rwanda and Arusha were "the main point of struggle for writing the fiction that they want history to agree upon".
He said some might be seeking favours or advantages by giving false testimony, while "there will be some with hatred because of past injustices or racism. Then there is the great problem of the oral tradition: people come to believe that they have lived, experienced and were present at something when they themselves have only heard about it".
Clark said that some witnesses might also think they saw things they did not, because of the turbulence they were going through at the time, or because they wanted to believe them.
"Apparently some are angry at the survivors," he continued, "because they survived, and people want to believe they could have saved others." But, he said, "who did the Belgians save? Who did the French save? Who did my own government which could have made a difference save? How does one lonely pastor respected perhaps stop the whirlwind?"
The case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of judges Erik Mose of Norway (presiding), Navanethem Pillay of South Africa and Andrésia Vaz of Senegal.
JC/PHD/FH (NK_0918F)
*SEPTEMBER 18th 2001
TANZANIA / RWANDA / NTUYAHAGA
NTUYAHAGA CASE ADJOURNED AGAIN, PROSECUTOR HAS MALARIA
Dar es Salaam, September18th, 2001(FH) - The hearing of defence testimony in the extradition case of former Rwandan army officer Major Bernard Ntuyahaga failed to take off once again on Tuesday, because the State Attorney was sick.
Kisutu Principal Resident Magistrate Projestus Rugazia adjourned the session to Wednesday after the court heard that Ms Amma Munisi, representing the United Republic of Tanzania, was suffering from malaria. Defence counsel said they had consulted with prosecution and agreed to postpone.
The Rwandan government wants Ntuyahaga for his alleged role in the murder of former Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and ten Belgian UN peacekeepers on April 7th, 1994, in Kigali. This extradition request was lodged more than two years ago, but Ntuyahaga has languished in jail while hearings were adjourned again and again.
On Monday, defence lawyers Luc de Temmerman of Belgium and Professor Jwan Mwaikusa of Tanzania were due to bring their first witnesses. Mwaikusa told the court they had secured two witnesses but asked for an adjournment as he had not had enough time to talk to them.
The two witnesses are a Belgian construction engineer who was in Rwanda for seven years until he left on April 12th, 1994; and a Burundian catholic priest now living in Belgium. The priest, Juvénal Bamboneyeho, told Hirondelle on Tuesday that he lived in Rwanda for 22 years, from 1972 to June 1994.
Major Ntuyahaga was released by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on technical grounds on March 18th, 1999 but was re-arrested by the Tanzanian authorities on immigration charges and for consideration of extradition requests.
Both Belgium and Rwanda put in an extradition request. Tanzanian authorities rejected the Belgian one, saying bilateral accords provided for suspects to be extradited only to the country where their alleged crimes were committed.
NI/JC/PHD/FH (NU_0918E)
*SEPTEMBER 18th 2001
ICTR/NTAKIRUTIMANA
RWANDA TRIBUNAL STARTS GENOCIDE TRIAL OF PASTOR AND SON
Arusha, September 18th, 2001 (FH) - As a seventh trial on Tuesday opened at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the Prosecutor presented a chilling picture of how a clergyman and his doctor son allegedly delivered thousands to their deaths during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Seventh Day Adventist Pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana and his son Gerard are charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
"The Ntakirutimanas will have you believe that in times of danger, they opened up their church and hospital as a sanctuary for Tutsi under attack," prosecutor Charles Phillips of Nigeria told the court. "But the testimony of the witnesses you will hear describes them, rather, as predators, who delivered thousands to their deaths and actually committed murders themselves. Elizaphan and Gerard Ntakirutimana were not helpless witnesses of genocide, rather, they were participants with blood on their hands."
Prosecution alleged that Elizaphan allowed Tutsi clergy and parishioners to be murdered as they prayed in church, while Gerard denied medical treatment, food and water to Tutsi refugees whom he crammed into a basement.
Dressed in dark jackets, white shirts and ties, the grey-haired pastor and his bespectacled son showed little emotion as they sat flanked by their lawyers. They have pleaded not guilty. Elizaphan is defended by former US Attorney General Ramsay Clark, and Gerard by Edward Medvene, also of the US.
At the time of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Elizaphan was pastor of the Seventh Day Adventist church in Mugonero complex in Kibuye, western Rwanda. Gérard was a doctor at the infirmary, which lay in the same complex.
At the beginning of the genocide Elizaphan allegedly lured refugees to the church and hospital with the promise of safety. According to the ICTR Prosecutor, Gérard then separated Hutus from Tutsis and told the Tutsis to stay.
On April 16th, 1994, a large convoy of attackers came to Mugonero and massacred hundreds of the refugees. Elizaphan and Gérard are said to have been part of the convoy.
"Both Elizaphan and Gerard Ntakirutimana had arrived at the complex shortly before the attacks, with gendarmes, Interahamwe (Hutu militia) and other civilians armed to the teeth and ready to fight," Philips said. "Together they inflicted unimaginable pain in a slaughter, which lasted well into the night.
"Dressed in his customary suit and tie, Pastor Ntakirutimana watched as people were shot or beaten to death, encouraging the killers to ensure that no one survived. His son, Gerard Ntakirutimana, took a more active role in the attacks."
Philips said a prosecution witness would testify to Gérard's presence during the rape of three women inside Mugonero hospital on April 16th, and that two witnesses saw him kill the hospital accountant. He described the pastor as a prominent member of the community with considerable means, saying witnesses were "aware of Elizaphan Ntakirutimana's closeness and friendship with government officials and wealthy businessman who were responsible for the killings already taking place in Kibuye".
About 5,000 people were killed in Mugonero complex on April 16th, 1994, according to the prosecution. This included at least 50 Adventist pastors killed together with their families. Seven Tutsi pastors who had got wind of the upcoming attack wrote an appeal to Pastor Ntakirutimana the previous day. A line from this letter, "We wish to inform you that we have heard tomorrow we will be killed with our families", was used by American journalist Philip Gourevitch as the title of a book about Rwanda.
"Pastor Ntakirutimana's response was contained in a brief, heartless letter," said Philips, "which stated 'there's nothing I can do for you. All you can do is prepare to die because your time has come', or words to that effect."
Church involvement
"The church hierarchies were at best useless and at worst accomplices in the genocide," Philips told the court. "This must be seen in the context of a long history of political compromise. The church went hand in hand with the politics of Habyarimana (former Hutu president whose death on April 6th, 1994, sparked the genocide).
"Inside Rwanda, more than 90% of the population were baptized Christians (65% Catholics, 20% Protestant and about 5% Adventist)," Philips continued. "Except for the government itself, the Catholic Church was the most influential and powerful institution in Rwanda right up to the office of the President.
"The failure of the churches in Rwanda to take a collective stand against the genocide and the overwhelming evidence of the direct participation of many clergy is one of the most disturbing aspects of what is universally considered to have been among the worst crimes against humanity in the 20th century."
Elizaphan, now aged 77, is one of a number of clergymen to have been indicted by the ICTR for their alleged role in the genocide. He is the first to go on trial but, according to Tribunal spokesman Kingsley Moghalu, "by no means the last". Also in custody is Anglican bishop Samuel Musabyimana, while a former catholic military chaplain was arrested in Switzerland in July at the Tribunal's request, and a catholic priest is wanted in Italy.
The joint trial of the Ntakirutimanas brings to seven the number of trials alternating before the ICTR's three trial chambers, and to seventeen the number of accused persons on trial. Philips said the Prosecutor intends to call 21 protected witnesses in this case, plus two investigators and one expert witness. The expert will be Canadian journalist Hugh McCullum. Philips said he expected that the prosecution case could be completed "within 6-7 weeks".
Defence lawyers are expected to make their opening statement later in the day. The first prosecution witness, ICTR investigator Upendra Bhagel of India, meanwhile began his testimony.
The case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of judges Erik Mose of Norway (presiding), Navanethem Pillay of South Africa and new judge Andrésia Vaz of Senegal.
JC/PHD/FH (NK_0918T)
*SEPTEMBER 17th 2001
ICTR / CYANGUGU
LEADERS CALLED FOR ELIMINATION OF TUTSIS, SAYS WITNESS
Arusha, September 17th, 2001 (FH) - Two genocide suspects and former leaders in Cyangugu (southwest Rwanda) allegedly called for the elimination of Tutsis in the region during the 1994 massacres, a prosecution witness told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Monday.
The 40th prosecution witness, dubbed "LAI" to protect his identity, also told the court that the two, former Transport Minister André Ntagerura and former prefect Emmanuel Bagambiki, distributed arms for use during the massacres. "It was a period of war and we were fighting our enemies the Tutsis and their accomplices," the witness said.
The trial groups Ntagerura, Bagambiki and former Cyangugu military commander Samuel Imanishimwe. All have pleaded not guilty to charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for their alleged roles in massacres of Tutsis in Cyangugu during the genocide.
LAI, a Hutu, has confessed to participating in the genocide and is detained in Rwanda. He told the court he was a former member of the Interahamwe militia and also a member of the former presidential party MRND. He was testifying during examination in chief by prosecutor Andra Mobberley of New Zealand.
LAI told the court that he worked under a militia leader, Yusuf Munyakazi (who has been indicted by the Tribunal but is still on the run). LAI told the court that Munyakazi took orders directly from André Ntagerura and Emmanuel Bagambiki.
The witness said that in January 1994 Bagambiki, Ntagerura and three other people delivered weapons to Bugarama using a helicopter. LAI added that Munyakazi received the weapons, which he distributed to the Interahamwe.
The witness said that during a meeting in Ituzi Hotel, Cyangugu town, Bagambiki stated: "If the people of Cyangugu were like the people of Bugesera, everything would be solved without difficulty."
LAI told the court that in Bugesera (where Bagambiki was once prefect), Tutsis had been massacred (in 1992).
He told the court that in Bugarama, Bagambiki went to a certain location to "inaugurate the killings" because the local population were reluctant to kill Tutsis. "Bagambiki came to inaugurate the killings and to stop soldiers preventing the Interahamwe from doing their work," said LAI.
LAI said Imanishimwe had accompanied Bagambiki. According to the witness, Imanishiwe's "was a different approach: He called for a Tutsi soldier and shot him in cold blood. He added that whoever was going to stop the Interahamwe from doing their work would die like the soldier. "
LAI said that Imanishimwe ordered him and other militia to throw the body into the Rusizi River because it was the "shortest route to get to Arusha for the peace negotiations". The 1992-93 peace talks for Rwanda were held in Arusha. The witness told the court that he later transported many Tutsi corpses that were also thrown into this river.
The hearing continues Tuesday morning before Trial Chamber Three of the ICTR, composed of judges Lloyd George Williams of St Kitts and Nevis (presiding), Yakov Ostrovsky of Russia and Pavel Dolenc of Slovenia.
SW/JC/PHD/FH (CY_0917e)
*SEPTEMBER 17th 2001
ICTR/NTUYAHAGA
WITNESSES TO TESTIFY TUESDAY AGAINST NTUYAHAGA EXTRADITION
Dar es Salaam, September 17th, 2001(FH) - Two witnesses from Belgium and Burundi are to start testifying Tuesday against the extradition of former Rwandan army officer Major Bernard Ntuyahaga from Tanzania to Rwanda.
The Rwandan government, which lodged the extradition request more than two years ago, wants Ntuyahaga for his alleged role in the murder of former Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and ten Belgian UN peacekeepers on April 7th, 1994, in Kigali.
Ntuyahaga's Tanzanian co-counsel, Professor Jwan Mwaikusa, told the Resident Magistrate court in Dar es Salaam Monday that his team had only managed to bring two out of an expected 12 witnesses. He said most of them were no longer willing to come for security reasons, especially after last week's massive terrorist attacks in the United States.
"However, I cannot proceed with the two witnesses today, Your Honour, because I did not have enough time to interview them,” Professor Mwaikusa told Principal Resident Magistrate Projestus Rugazia, and asked for a one-day adjournment. This was granted.
Belgian lead counsel Luc De Temmerman assured the court that his team would bring another two witnesses for Ntuyahaga's defence in one month. “I am very unhappy that a lot of witnesses who received summons from this court did not respond,” lamented De Temmerman.
Senior State Attorney, Ms Amma Munisi said she wished to register her dissatisfaction at continuing adjournment requests from the defence.
Major Ntuyahaga was released by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on technical grounds on March 18th, 1999, but was re-arrested by the Tanzanian authorities the same day, on immigration charges and for consideration of extradition requests.
Both Belgium and Rwanda put in an extradition request. Tanzanian authorities rejected the Belgian one, saying bilateral accords provided for suspects to be extradited only to the country where their alleged crimes were committed.
NI/JC/PHD/FH (NU_0917E
*SEPTEMBER 17th 2001
ICTR/ MEDIA
MEDIA TRIAL ADJOURNED TO NOVEMBER 12th
Arusha, September 17th, 2001 (FH) The trial of three people accused of using the media to fuel the 1994 genocide in Rwanda has been suspended until November 12th before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), to make way for a new case.
The Media trial groups Ferdinand Nahimana, a founder and alleged director of "hate radio" Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM); Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, a former politician and RTLM board member; and Hassan Ngeze, former editor of "Kangura" newspaper.
The case is before the ICTR's Trial Chamber One which on Tuesday begins the genocide trial of Seventh Day Adventist pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana and his son Gérard.
The Media trial began on October 23rd, 2000. One of the accused, Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, has maintained a boycott of the courtroom, claiming that the ICTR is manipulated by the current regime in Kigali. Prosecution has so far called thirty witnesses in the case.
JC/PHD/FH (ME_0917e)
*SEPTEMBER 17th 2001
ICTR/NTAKIRUTIMANA
CLERGYMAN AND HIS SON TO GO ON TRIAL FOR GENOCIDE
Arusha, September 17th, 2001 (FH) A Seventh Day Adventist pastor and his son are on Tuesday expected to go on trial for genocide before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Elizaphan Ntakirutimana and his son Gérard, a medical doctor, are accused of using their positions to help massacre Tutsis in the Kibuye region of western Rwanda during the 1994 genocide.
Elizaphan, now aged 77, is one of a number of clergymen to have been indicted by the ICTR for their alleged role in the genocide. He is the first to go on trial but, according to Tribunal spokesman Kingsley Moghalu, "by no means the last". Also in custody is Anglican bishop Samuel Musabyimana, while a former catholic military chaplain was arrested in Switzerland in July at the Tribunal's request, and a catholic priest is wanted in Italy.
The joint trial of the Ntakirutimanas will bring to seven the number of trials alternating before the ICTR's three trial chambers, and to seventeen the number of accused persons on trial.
Gérard was arrested in Côte d'Ivoire in October 1996 and transferred to Tribunal custody the following month. His father was arrested in Texas, US, also in September 1996 but then ensued a long legal battle against extradition, led by Elizaphan's lawyer, former US Attorney General Ramsay Clark. The pastor was released fourteen months later, but the US State Department petitioned the release and he was re-arrested in February 1998. It was not until March 2000 that Elizaphan joined his son in the UN Detention Facility (UNDF) in Arusha, after Clark had taken the case to the US Supreme Court and lost.
At the time of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Elizaphan was pastor of the Seventh Day Adventist church in Mugonero complex in Kibuye. Gérard was a doctor at the infirmary which lay in the same complex.
At the beginning of the genocide Elizaphan allegedly lured refugees to the church and hospital with the promise of safety. According to the ICTR Prosecutor, Gérard then separated Hutus from Tutsis and told the Tutsis to stay. On April 16th, 1994, a large convoy of attackers came to Mugonero and massacred hundreds of the refugees. Elizaphan and Gérard are said to have been part of the convoy.
The indictment says that survivors of the Mugonero massacre fled to surrounding places in the mountainous Bisesero region but were subsequently hunted down and killed by people including the Ntakirutimanas. Elizaphan allegedly went to a church in Murambi where many Tutsi refugees were hiding and ordered that the roof be destroyed.
Elizaphan and Gérard face five counts of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and serious violations of the Geneva Conventions (war crimes). ICTR Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte of Switzerland is expected to be in court for the start of trial, which will be preceded by a status conference on Monday.
The case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of judges Erik Mose of Norway (presiding), Navanethem Pillay of South Africa and new judge Andrésia Vaz of Senegal.
JC/PHD/FH (NK_0917E)
*SEPTEMBER 14th 2001
ICTR/MEDIA
COURT ADMITS POSSIBILITY FOR WITNESS TO TESTIFY BY VIDEO LINK
Arusha, September 14th, 2001 (FH) The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Friday granted permission for prosecution to bring a new, key witness in the ongoing Media trial, and for that witness to testify by videoconference if he fears to come to Arusha. However, one of the three court judges rejected the Prosecutor's motion, arguing that there was no case to introduce a new witness nine months into the trial.
The so-called Media trial groups three suspects accused of using the media to incite the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Facing genocide charges in the case are Ferdinand Nahimana, founder and alleged director of "hate radio" RTLM; Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, a former politician and board member of RTLM; and Hassan Ngeze, former editor of newspaper "Kangura".
The new witness will be referred to as "Witness X", to protect his identity. Trial Chamber One ordered the ICTR Registry "to clarify whether Witness X is willing to testify in Arusha under stringent security measures, and to report to the Chamber forthwith. In the event of a negative response, the court said it "directs the Registry to make the necessary arrangements for Witness X to give his testimony by means of video-link conference in The Hague".
This would be the first time that a witness testified to the ICTR by videoconferencing. In 1997, former Interahamwe militia leader Georges Rutaganda asked that some of his witnesses in a refugee camp in ex-Zaire be allowed to testify by videoconferencing. However, the request was not granted.
A "key witness"
Prosecution said that Witness X had been "assisting the Prosecutor in its investigation and tracking of suspects for some time", had protective status in a host country and had recently reconsidered his previous unwillingness to testify, provided there was appropriate security. The Prosecutor said she had been aware of Witness X for some time but had only "formed the intention to use him as a witness in this case, in June-August 2001".
She argued that Witness X is "a key witness whose testimony will be equivalent of six witnesses and thereby result in the Prosecution dispensing with six witnesses". It appears that this witness's testimony will be particularly crucial against Nahimana. Prosecution said Witness X would: "rebut points raised in the Defence's pre-trial brief such as Nahimana's involvement with the CDR (hardline Hutu political party), the relationship between Radio Rwanda and RTLM, the accused's involvement in false 'communiqué', his being head of RTLM, his participation with the Interahamwe and his attitude towards Tutsis and the CDR relations with MRND (former presidential party)."
Defence for the accused argued, however, that the prosecution's attempt to bring a new witness at this stage, and after the final list of witnesses had been determined by the court, was "a wilful violation of the Accused's right to a fair and expeditious trial", that the Prosecutor had been aware of this witness "long before" the start of trial and that she had failed to meet her disclosure obligations. The defence further argued that "the element of surprise resulting from the late disclosure will cause serious prejudice to the defence in the preparation of their case".
However, the court found by a majority of two to one that there was "good cause", as required by Tribunal Rules, for allowing the late introduction of this witness, and that this would be in the interests of justice. It found that this would not cause undue prejudice to the defence, and quoted counsel for Nahimana as having admitted that: "Witness X is not a witness who we can argue, is talking about matters that take us by surprise".
Trial Chamber One is composed of judges Navanethem Pillay of South Africa (presiding), Erik Mose of Norway and Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana of Sri Lanka.
In a separate and dissenting opinion, Judge Gunawardana found that there was no "good cause" to allow the late introduction of this witness, and said he could not agree with the decision of the other judges. Gunawardana says, among other things, that there is no indication that the witness was previously unwilling to testify, and that: "It appears that the decision by the Prosecution to include Witness X as a witness in this trial was taken only recently, not because of any reluctance on the part of the witness, but because of the present state of the Prosecution's case."
(ME_0914E)
*SEPTEMBER 12th 2001
ICTR/ KAMUHANDA
DEFENCE PROTESTS METHOD OF IDENTIFYING SUSPECT
Arusha, September 12th, 2001(FH) A lawyer for former Rwandan minister and genocide suspect Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda on Wednesday protested the way a prosecution witness was asked to identify the accused.
"Given that the defence is composed entirely of women, and that Kamuhanda is the only man sitting on the defence side of the court, there's nothing easier for the witness than to point to the accused," said Kamuhanda's lawyer Aicha Condé of Guinea.
The prosecutor had asked the witness to look around the courtroom and point Kamuhanda out. This the witness did, describing Kamuhanda's clothes and where he was sitting.
Condé is assisted by co-counsel Grace Amakye of Britain, while the defence team's legal assistants are also women. Kamuhanda was the only man sitting on the left hand side of the courtroom, apart from a blue-uniformed UN security guard.
In an opening speech at the start of trial, prosecution said it would call witnesses who would identify the accused. Condé told the court this exercise served no purpose given the situation. Presiding judge William Sekule of Tanzania said the court had taken note of the situation.
The sixth prosecution witness, dubbed "GEB" to protect his identity, told the court he had seen Kamuhanda on April 12th, 1994, driving a van with Interahamwe militia in the back. The witness said about five of the Interahamwe were carrying kalashnikov rifles.
"The vehicle overtook us going to Gikomero," he told the court, "and shortly afterwards we heard shooting at the Protestant parish.
He said refugees fleeing the parish had told him "that they saw Kamuhanda with Interahamwe from Kigali, who had massacred people at the parish".
Defence counsel Condé said, however, that a fleeing Tutsi refugee would not have been able to recognize Kamuhanda in a moving vehicle. She also argued that the witness could not recognize her client because he did not know him.
The defence also pointed out various contradictions between the witness's oral testimony and his written statement. However, the witness blamed these on ICTR investigators who had taken his written statement.
The trial continues on Thursday with the testimony of a new witness. The case is before Trial Chamber Two composed of judges William Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho.
BN/JC/FH (KH_0912E)
*SEPTEMBER 12th 2001
ICTR/MEDIA
GENOCIDE SUSPECT WAS ON GOOD TERMS WITH TUTSIS, SAYS WITNESS
Arusha, September 12th, 2001 (FH) - A turnabout prosecution witness in the so-called Media trial told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Wednesday that Hutu genocide suspect Hassan Ngeze had been "on good terms with Tutsis" before, during and after the 1994 genocide.
The protected witness, only identified as "DM", seemingly took prosecution by surprise when, on reaching the dock, he refuted all allegations of wrongdoing by Ngeze.
Ngeze is former owner and editor of the "Kangura" newspaper. He is on trial with two other suspects linked to "hate media" that incited Hutus to kill Tutsis during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The other accused are Ferdinand Nahimana, a founder and alleged director of Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM); and Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, a former politician and RTLM board member.
DM told the court that at the peak of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Ngeze had told him and other people in the northwest Rwanda town of Gisenyi not to kill innocent people simply because they were Tutsi.
The witness earlier told the court he was a Tutsi who had worked as a driver in Ngeze's hometown of Gisenyi during the genocide, and before that as a vendor of Ngeze's newspaper "Kangura". DM said had been tried and acquitted of genocide in Rwanda, after being arrested on December 6th, 1996.
In his re-examination, prosecutor Alphonse Van of Côte d'Ivoire asked the witness questions suggesting that his testimony had many flaws and that he was a liar.
After re-examination, Ngeze's co-counsel René Martel of Canada objected to additional questions put to the witness by Judge Erik Mose of Norway, saying that the judge appeared to be taking up the prosecutor's role and that this was against Tribunal Rules.
"His Honour Judge Mose is playing the role of accuser here," objected Martel. "I don't think that any judge can start the examination all over again."
Presiding Judge Navanethem Pillay of South Africa dismissed the objection saying that judges had that right to put questions to witnesses.
Meanwhile, Ngeze warned the court that he would be in a dilemma when it came to his time to testify, as he didn't want to be questioned by his current lawyers, John Floyd of the US (lead counsel) and Martel of Canada.
The accused told the court that he had 200 pages of testimony and would require 20 days to complete it. But, he said: " I don't want to be questioned by counsels Martel and Floyd because I don't trust them."
Judge Pillay said the Chamber would deal with that issue when the prosecution had finished its case.
In April, Ngeze said he would renounce his indigent status to get the lawyers of his choice, after the court rejected his motion to have his current, ICTR-assigned team replaced. The court said Ngeze could go ahead and bring other lawyers, but he has so far failed to produce the lawyers he said he wanted.
Ngeze also apologized for a period in July when he boycotted trial to protest against his defence team. " I do respect the court," he said, adding that his absence was due to "problems I have with my counsel".
Ngeze further thanked the judges for allowing him to take part in cross-examination of witnesses. Ngeze has been granted permission to ask questions to three witnesses in addition to those asked by his lawyers.
"This is a matter of life," Ngeze told the court. "I want to be heard. I don't want to regret later."
He complained, however, about the fact that he had had no investigator for nine months. Judge Pillay told him that this was not an absolute right. "What we can do for you is just to inquire why no investigator has been assigned," she said.
The sacking of Ngeze's defence investigators is one of the reasons for his dispute with Floyd and Martel.
This trial is being heard by Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of judges Pillay , Mose and Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana of Sri Lanka.
GG/JC/PHD/FH (ME_0912E)
*SEPTEMBER 11th 2001
ICTR / CYANGUGU
FORMER MINISTER DELIVERED WEAPONS TO MILITIA, SAYS WITNESS
Arusha, September 11th, 2001 (FH) - A former Rwandan minister on trial for genocide delivered weapons to militia by helicopter, a prosecution witness told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Tuesday.
The 39th prosecution witness, dubbed "LAP" to protect his identity, was testifying in the so-called Cyangugu trial. LAP told the court that on January 28th, 1994, former Transport minister André Ntagerura arrived in Bigogwe military camp in Gisenyi, northwest Rwanda, and delivered cases of weapons and uniforms for militia.
Ntagerura is in a joint trial with former Cyangugu military commander Samuel Imanishimwe and former Cyangugu prefect Emmanuel Bagambiki. All have pleaded not guilty to charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for their alleged roles in massacres of Tutsis in Cyangugu during the genocide.
LAP was testifying for the second day. He told the court that he and others cleared a patch for the helicopter to land. "I was in charge of security," LAP said. The witness is a confessed killer who is in detention in Rwanda.
The court heard that LAP went inside the helicopter to unload "cases of weapons and bales of clothing", which were allegedly brought by Ntagerura.
According to LAP, Ntagerura said at Bigogwe he would head for Cyangugu, and that he would contact the director of public run buses (ONATRACOM) to transport Interahamwe militia there.
In cross-examination, LAP admitted he had not mentioned ONATRACOM buses in his written statement. He said he had not talked about them either toTribunal investigators or during examination by the prosecution.
"I did not say it before but now I am saying it," said LAP in response to Ntagerura's Canadian lawyer Benoit Henry, who maintained that this bit of the testimony was "fictitious." Part of the testimony was heard in camera.
The hearing continues Wednesday morning before ICTR's Trial Chamber Three, with cross-examination of LAP by defence counsel for Bagambiki and Imanishimwe.
The Chamber is composed of judges Lloyd Williams of St. Kitts and Nevis (presiding), Yakov Ostrovsky of Russia and Pavel Dolenc of Slovenia.
SW/JC/FH (CY_0911E)
*SEPTEMBER 11th 2001
ICTR/ REGISTRY
RWANDA TRIBUNAL SEEKS TO COMBAT RACISM
Arusha, September 11th, 2001 (FH) International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Registrar Adama Dieng plans a series of initiatives to promote tolerance at the workplace and combat "alleged or potential issues of racism, racial discrimination and intolerance", the ICTR spokesman said on Tuesday.
"In every multiracial or multicultural set-up, these kinds of issues arise," Kingsley Moghalu of Nigeria told reporters at a press conference. "The ICTR is no different." But he said that, as a UN institution, the Tribunal had a duty to tackle such issues.
The Tribunal will first ask its staff to fill in anonymously a questionnaire on "issues of racism, discrimination and intolerance". The aim, according to Moghalu is to "compile scientific data on the real feelings and attitudes of staff of the Tribunal to these issues as they relate to the Tribunal's workplace".
The Tribunal's various sections will then hold meetings to discuss the survey results, each meeting aided by an independent Facilitator. "Following the discussions in the various Sections, the management of the Tribunal will convene a Staff Assembly to discuss the results of the whole exercise," said Moghalu.
The announcement follows last week's UN conference against racism in Durban, South Africa. In a statement on Friday, the ICTR said it "identifies with the goal of the United Nations to eliminate all forms of racism and intolerance".
"As an international institution," says the statement, "the International Tribunal is cognizant that racism, racial discrimination or related tendencies are difficult matters to confront and address. The Tribunal recognizes its responsibility to promote tolerance within its workplace, which is multiracial and multicultural.
"By continuing its judicial work in dispensing justice for crimes rooted in discrimination and looking inward to ensure that (…) the ICTR continues to practice what it preaches, the ICTR intends to remain an important positive example of the idea of tolerance."
Allegations of racism at the ICTR hit the headlines in May with the simultaneous termination of work contracts of four ICTR prosecutors and two Registry staff. Four were African, one Asian and one Jordanian. Some ICTR staff claimed these people were victims of racism, while others claimed they had been sacked for inefficiency.
"There are a few instances that have happened in this Tribunal in which people have voiced the view that perhaps developments have had to do with racism, with discrimination and so on," Moghalu told Tuesday's press conference. "Whether or not that is true we do not know. But this exercise is a proactive exercise to prevent these types of things happening and to promote an atmosphere of tolerance among the staff."
JC/PHD/FH (RE_0911F)
*SEPTEMBER 11th 2001
ICTR/REGISTRY
MALAWIAN JURIST NAMED RWANDA TRIBUNAL DEPUTY REGISTRAR
Arusha, September 11th, 2001 (FH)-A Malawian jurist has been appointed Deputy Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), filling a post which has been vacant for nearly a year, the Tribunal spokesman announced on Tuesday. Lovemore Green Munlo is a former Attorney General and Minister of Justice of Malawi.
ICTR spokesman Kingsley Moghalu said Munlo is expected to take up his post at the beginning of October. "It's a very important position," Moghalu told a press conference,"and the fact that the post has not been filled over the past several months has placed quite a significant burden on the Registrar (…). So I can say that the arrival of Mr. Munlo will certainly be a big help for the Registrar and strengthen the team that is heading the Tribunal's Registry."
The previous Deputy Registrar left last year after her contract was not renewed. Since then, the post has been advertised and re-advertised.
Munlo is currently a Principal Partner in a private law firm in Lilongwe. He is a Senior Counsel (SC), the equivalent in Malawi of a Queen's Counsel (QC). The Deputy Registrar heads the ICTR's Judicial and Legal Services division, one of the Registry's two divisions along with Administration. "So the Deputy Registrar has an important role to play in the smooth functioning of the court," said Moghalu. He said this includes supervising such areas as judgement writing, witness protection and witness support and assignment of defence counsel to indigent counsel.
AT/JC/PHD/FH (RE_0911E)
*SEPTEMBER 11th 2001
ICTR/MEDIA
PROSECUTION WITNESS SAYS OTHERS BEFORE HIM HAVE LIED
Arusha, September 11th, 2001 (FH) A prosecution witness at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Tuesday denied that genocide suspect Hassan Ngeze had participated in the 1994 genocide, and claimed that several previous prosecution witnesses had lied.
"I can assure you that one old man who came to testify here came back bragging that he had made compromising testimony against Ngeze," protected witness "DM" told the court under cross-examination by Ngeze's Canadian co-counsel René Martel. "That old man never even left his house during the genocide."
The witness said he was a Tutsi who had worked as a driver in Ngeze's home town of Gisenyi, northwest Rwanda, during the genocide, and before that as a vendor of Ngeze's newspaper "Kangura". He told the court he had been tried and acquitted of genocide in Rwanda, after being arrested on December 6th, 1996.
Ngeze is former owner and editor of "Kangura". He is on trial with two other suspects linked to "hate media" that incited Hutus to kill Tutsis during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The other accused are Ferdinand Nahimana, a founder and alleged director of Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM); and Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, a former politician and RTLM board member.
Witness DM wrote down for the court what he said were the names of three other witnesses that have testified against Ngeze at the ICTR. "They too came back to Gisenyi bragging about making false testimony," said DM.
DM also told the court that Ngeze "did not kill anybody or arrest anybody" during the genocide. Asked by Martel whether he knew of any Tutsi saved by Ngeze during the genocide, DM said that he knew of twelve or thirteen. "Yes, and even now, amongst those people that he saved, there are some who are still alive," he added.
DM also refuted several factual allegations by previous prosecution witnesses implicating Ngeze in murders during the genocide. DM was examined by prosecutor Alphonse Van of Ivory Coast.
DM continues his testimony before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of judges Navanethem Pillay of South Africa (presiding), Erik Mose of Norway and Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana of Sri Lanka.
GG/JC/FH (ME_0911e)
*SEPTEMBER 10th 2001
ICTR / CYANGUGU
ACCUSED JOINED KILLERS IN EATING HUMAN FLESH, CLAIMS WITNESS
Arusha, September 10th, 2001 (FH) - Former Cyangugu military leader and genocide suspect Samuel Imanishimwe led killers in eating human flesh during the 1994 massacres in Rwanda, a witness told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
The 39th prosecution witness, dubbed "LAP" to protect his identity, told the Chamber that he participated in killings in April 1994 in Gatandara region and Kamarampaka stadium in Cyangugu.
He claimed that accused Imanishimwe "started a ritual of eating human flesh". "He showed us an example, he ate the heart and liver (of one of the victims)," LAP told the court.
"Were these eaten raw or cooked?" asked prosecutor Holo Makwaia. LAP responded that they were "eaten after being roasted as brochettes".
The so-called Cyangugu trial resumed Monday afternoon, after a delay in the morning due to the absence of defence counsel for one of the other accused, former prefect Emmanuel Bagambiki. However, Belgian lead counsel Vincent Lurquin arrived in the afternoon and explained to the Chamber that he had had transport problems en route from Europe.
The Cyangugu trial groups former prefect Bagambiki, former Transport Minister André Ntagerura and former Cyangugu military barracks commander Imanishimwe. All have pleaded not guilty to charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for their alleged roles in massacres of Tutsis in Cyangugu during the 1994 genocide.
LAP is a detainee in Rwanda for crimes committed during the genocide. The witness said he had been one of a group of killers at a roadblock in Gatandara and that Imanishimwe and Bagambiki had brought people to them on more than three occasions to be killed.
The witness said the two instructed him and others to kill the people brought to them because they were Tutsi. According to LAP, victims were brought to the roadblock on April 13th, 14th and 22nd. But the killings in Cyangugu started shortly after the death of former president Juvénal Habyarimana, the witness said.
Apart from those killed at the roadblock, LAP said more people were killed who had taken refuge in the Kamarampaka stadium. Their bodies were thrown in a pit latrine, he told the court.
LAP said that a former mayor, Napoleon Mubiligi, and Cyangugu deputy prosecutor Siméon Nshamihigo were also present during some of the killings. Nshamihigo, a former Tribunal defence investigator, is now indicted and detained by the ICTR.
The court heard that Imanishimwe shot and killed a woman who was among the victims. LAP told the Chamber that Imanishimwe tried to rape the victim but shot her in the genitals when she resisted.
The hearing will proceed on Tuesday morning before judges Lloyd George Williams of St. Kitts and Nevis (presiding), Judge Yakov Ostrovsky of Russia and Pavel Dolenc of Slovenia.
SW/JC/PHD/FH (CY_0910f)
*SEPTEMBER 10th, 2001
ICTR/ MEDIA
NGEZE CROSS-QUESTION WITNESS IN MEDIA TRIAL
Arusha, September 10th, 2001 (FH) - Former editor of "Kangura" newspaper Hassan Ngeze on Monday cross-questioned a prosecution witness in his genocide trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The court allowed Ngeze to put questions to the witness after he said he had not spoken to his lawyers since March.
Ngeze is on trial with two other suspects accused of using the media to fuel the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. His co-accused are Ferdinand Nahimana, a founder of the Radio-T‚l‚vision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) radio and Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, a former politician and RTLM board member.
Ngeze's Canadian co-counsel Ren‚ Martel told the court that he had been to the United Nations Detention Facility (UNDF) last Friday but that his client refused to meet him. The accused's defence lawyers say that this has been happening for the past few months.
Dressed in grey and yellow flowing robes and a red fez, Ngeze adressed questions to the witness in English. This is the second time he has been allowed to conduct cross-questioning after his lawyers.
Ngeze suggested that the twenty-ninth prosecution witness, dubbed "AHI" to protect his identity, was testifying so as to get his death sentence commuted. AHI has been condemned to death for genocide by a Rwandan court, despite pleading guilty. He has appealed his sentence.
Ngeze wanted to know what lessons the witness had learned from the events of 1994, to which AHI replied that he had asked God for forgiveness. AHI further said he had come to tell the truth, and that he had been called to the witness stand by the ICTR Prosecutor.
Court transcripts in hand, Ngeze challenged the witness on some of his statements during his earlier testimony in chief. When the witness failed to confirm them, Ngeze remarked that the court would evaluate his contradictions, and that the transcripts were the authoritative version.
AHI had earlier accused Ngeze of directing attacks against Tutsis in the northwest Rwandan town of Gisenyi and of helping to distribute arms. Ngeze suggested that there had been many other Hassans in the town and that AHI was confused. However, the witness maintained that he knew Ngeze well.
After Ngeze's cross-questioning, presiding judge Navanethem Pillay of South Africa asked why he had not given his questions to his defence lawyers. "I do not trust them, I do not work with them, " he replied.
However, Judge Pillay told him that he would have to work with them, as he would only be allowed to question witnesses under exceptional circumstances. Ngeze tried to reply but was silenced by the court.
Ngeze is represented by John Floyd of the US and Ren‚ Martel of Canada. However, after the court rejected a motion to have them replaced, he asked that he be allowed to renounce his indigent status and pay for lawyers of his choice. He seems to have been unable so far to bring the lawyers he says he wants.
AT/JC/PHD(FH (me_0910E)
*SEPTEMBER 10th, 2001
ICTR / CYANGUGU
MISSING COUNSEL DELAYS RESUMPTION OF CYANGUGU TRIAL
Arusha, September 10th, 2001 (FH) – The trial of three genocide suspects from Cyangugu, southwest Rwanda, could not proceed as scheduled on Monday morning at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), because defence lawyers for one of the accused were absent.
At the start of proceedings, the court noted that counsel for former prefect Emmanuel Bagambiki were not present. Mr Bagambiki told the Chamber he had been expecting his lead counsel over the weekend but had not heard from him.
The so-called Cyangugu trial groups former prefect Bagambiki, former Transport Minister André Ntagerura and former Cyangugu military barracks commander Samuel Imanishimwe. All have pleaded not guilty to charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for their alleged roles in massacres of Tutsis in Cyangugu during the 1994 genocide.
A legal assistant in Bagambiki's defence team, Sarah de Hemptinne, said she had been informed that lead counsel Vincent Lurquin of Belgium had travel problems but was expected in the later part of the morning. There was no information on Bagambiki's co-counsel, Luc Boutin of Canada.
Bagambiki has previously told the Chamber that he has no confidence in Boutin. He reiterated his stand. "Mr Lurquin was supposed to see me on Saturday. As for Mr Butin, the Registry knows he has been asked to leave," said Bagambiki.
Prosecutor Richard Karegyesa sought an adjournment. "Bagambiki would be prejudiced through no fault of his own if proceedings went on without both counsel, and the prudent option would be to adjourn," said Karegyesa.
The court granted an adjournment and directed the Registry to inform all parties once Bagambiki's counsel arrived.
Before adjournment, the court sent a message of condolence following the death of a former co-counsel for Imanishimwe, George So'o of Cameroon. So'o had resigned as co-counsel on May 11th 2001, for medical reasons.
Imanishimwe's new co-counsel Jean Pierre Fofe of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said that lead counsel Marie-Louise Mbida would be in court on Tuesday. There are no changes in the defence team for Ntagerura, who is represented by Canadian Benoit Henri and Hamuli Rety of DRC/France.
The hearing is before judges Lloyd George Williams of St. Kitts and Nevis (presiding), Judge Yakov Ostrovsky of Russia and Pavel Dolenc of Slovenia.
The trial had been adjourned since June 7th, after the testimony of 38 prosecution witnesses, because Judge Ostrovsky was unwell.
SW/JC/FH (CY_0910e)
* SEPTEMBER 6th 2001
ICTR/ MILITARY
DEFENCE WANTS PROSECUTOR SANCTIONED FOR FRIVOLOUS MOTION
Arusha, September 6th, 2001 (FH) - The defence lawyer for former Rwandan military leader Gratien Kabiligi on Thursday asked the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to sanction the prosecution for bringing what he called a frivolous motion.
Kabiligi is due to be tried for genocide with three other former Rwandan military leaders: Anatole Nsengiyumva, Aloys Ntabakuze and Théoneste Bagosora, who was former advisor (chef de cabinet) at the Rwandan defence ministry.
Kabiligi's Togolese counsel Jean Yaovi Degli told the court there was "no doubt" about the frivolous nature of the motion and urged the court to impose sanctions for having "disturbed the court with motions that have no raison d'être".
The prosecution motion seeks to harmonize measures on pre-trial disclosure to the defence of prosecution witness statements and identities. Prosecutors said there are currently three different court orders setting deadlines of between 21 and 60 days before trial for the disclosure of unredacted statements (that is, with nothing blanked out).
Prosecution suggested that this be harmonized to 21 days, but defence lawyers for the accused all protested. Degli said that if harmonization were necessary it should be done "in a positive direction", meaning that the deadline should be fixed rather at 60 days.
"Why should our rights be curtailed by (prosecution) house keeping matters?" asked Bagosora's French lawyer Raphael Constant. "We are in a situation where the Prosecutor is pushing us against the wall."
The prosecution motion also asks that defence be banned from contacting potential prosecution witnesses or members of their families without the court's permission. Defence argued that the main issue was the disclosure of documents in good time.
"It is as though there is no disclosure at all - a lot is hidden from us under the guise of concealing the identity of witnesses," said Nsengiyumva's Kenyan counsel Otachi Bw'Omanwa. The court heard that the lawyers had so far 872 statements to study before the trial.
"Our aim is not to undermine witness protection but that we should have enough time to defend our clients," Constant told the court. He asked that prosecution should above all disclose its list of witnesses in good time.
At one point in the proceedings, prosecutors said they plan to bring 150 witnesses in this joint trial. The case is before the ICTR's Trial Chamber Three, composed of judges Lloyd George Williams of St Kitts and Nevis (presiding), Yakov Ostrovsky, of Russia and Pavel Dolenc of Slovenia.
The court will consider the motion before rendering a decision. It also set a status conference for November 15th to 16th,, which will look at a possible date for start of trial.
AT/SW/JC/FH (ML_0906E )
SEPTEMBER 6th 2001
ICTR/MEDIA
DEATH ROW WITNESS ORDERED TO PRODUCE NOTEBOOK
Arusha, September 6th, 2001 (FH) - A death row inmate testifying for the
prosecution in the so-called Media trial at the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was on Thursday ordered to produce a notebook
containing crimes committed in his home area and names of suspects who
allegedly committed the crimes. The witness told the court that he wrote
the notebook as he was being informed of charges against him by the public
prosecutor in Rwanda in October 2000.
Witness AHI, named as such to protect his identity, pleaded guilty to
genocide in Rwanda and was sentenced to death. He is jailed in the
northwest Rwandan province of Gisenyi.
AHI is testifying in the so-called Media trial that groups three suspects
linked to so-called "hate media" in Rwanda before and during the 1994
genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda. They are Ferdinand Nahimana, founder member
and alleged former director of Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines
(RTLM); Jean-Bosco-Barayagwiza, former politician and RTLM board member;
and Hassan Ngeze, former editor of the newspaper Kangura.
Defence lawyers on Tuesday raised the possibility that the witness was
reading from a text, but the court checked and found that this was not the
case. However, he on Thursday mentioned the notebook, leading Ngeze's US
lawyer John Floyd to demand its production. Floyd said it was clear that
the witness had been coached, and that he was testifying like a politician
giving a speech. Floyd demanded that the witness produce the notebook.
The court authorized the parties to inspect the book. Presiding Judge
Navanethem Pillay of South Africa said the Chamber would "consider
relevancy before allowing cross-examination on the notebook".
Meanwhile, Ngeze was granted his request to put his own questions to the
witness, after cross-examination by his lawyers. He is expected to do this
when the trial resumes on Monday.
Ngeze has been asking since April to have his Tribunal-paid lawyers
dismissed. He has been allowed to cross-examine a witness in this trial
before.
The case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of judges
Pillay, Erik Mose of Norway and Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana of Sri Lanka.
GG/JC/FH (ME_0906e)
* SEPTEMBER 6th, 2001
ICTR/MEDIA
RWANDA TRIBUNAL TO START SECOND NEW TRIAL
Arusha, September 6th 2001 (FH) - A new genocide trial started on September
3rd before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), while
another new case is set to begin on September 17th, according to the
Tribunal.
The trial of Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda, former Minister of Higher Education in
the 1994 Rwandan interim government, was restarted from scratch on
September 3rd before a recomposed Trial Chamber Two of the ICTR. The court
has two new judges, following the death of its former presiding judge Laity
Kama in May, and the departure of another judge for the Appeals Court in
The Hague.
On September 17th, Trial Chamber One will start the "Kibuye case". This is
a joint trial of Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, former Pastor of the Seventh Day
Adventist Church in Kibuye, western Rwanda, and his son Gerard
Ntakirutimana, a former medical doctor in Kibuye.
The two are jointly charged with genocide and crimes against humanity. Also
indicted in this case is Charles Sikuwabo, who is still on the run.
The Kamuhanda and Kibuye trials will proceed alongside five other cases
already in progress before the ICTR's three courts. The five cases are the
Media trial (Chamber One), Cyangugu, Semanza (both Trial Chamber Three),
Kajelijeli and Butare trials (Trial Chamber Two).
Trial Chamber One
The so-called Media trial resumed on August 20th before Trial Chamber One,
composed of judges Navanethem Pillay of South Africa (presiding), Eric Mose
of Norway and Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana of Sri Lanka. Judge Gunawardana
will also go to boost the ICTR and ICTY Appeals Court in The Hague, but
will remain on the bench in Arusha for this trial only.
The Media case groups three suspects accused of having used the media to
incite killings during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. They are: Ferdinand
Nahimana, a founder of RTLM radio; Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, a former
politician and board member of RTLM; and Hassan Ngeze, former editor of the
"Kangura" newspaper.
Their trial will be suspended again for the start of the Kibuye case. For
the new trial, Judge Mose will preside, while new judge Andrésia Vaz is to
replace Judge Gunawardana.
Trial Chamber Two
Kamuhanda's case, currently in progress before Trial Chamber Two, will be
suspended for resumption of the Kajelijeli trial on October 1st.
Juvénal Kajelijeli is a former mayor of Mukingo, northwest Rwanda. His
trial was restarted on July 25th this year. After resuming on October 1st,
this case is scheduled to adjourn on October 5th and resume on November
26th. Eight out of an expected 15 prosecution witnesses have so far
testified.
The joint trial of six political leaders and prominent persons charged with
genocide and crimes against humanity in Butare, southern Rwanda, will
resume on October 22nd before Trial Chamber Two.
The Butare trial groups former Minister for Family and Women's Affairs
Pauline Nyiramasuhuko and her son Arsène Shalom Ntahobali, former Butare
prefects Sylvain Nsabimana and Alphonse Nteziryayo and former mayors of
Ngoma Joseph Kanyabashi and Muganza, Elie Ndayambaje.
Trial Chamber Two is now composed of Judges William Hussein Sekule of
Tanzania (presiding), Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill
Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho.
Trial Chamber Three
The so-called Cyangugu trial is set to resume on September 10th before
Trial Chamber Three, composed of judges Lloyd George Williams presiding (St
Kitts and Nevis), Yakov Ostrovsky (Russia) and Pavel Dolenc (Slovenia).
This case groups three former leaders from Cyangugu, southwest Rwanda:
former prefect Emmanuel Bagambiki, former Transport Minister André
Ntagerura and military leader Samuel Imanishimwe.
The Cyangugu trial is alternating with that of former mayor of Bicumbi
(central Rwanda) Laurent Semanza. Semanza's trial is set to resume on
October 1st, when the defence is expected to begin its case. It will run up
to October 9th when it will be adjourned before resuming on October 22nd.
A defence motion is meanwhile due to be heard on Friday, September 7th,
seeking an extension of time for document disclosure in Semanza's case.
SW/JC/FH (ICTR_0905e)
* SEPTEMBER 6th 2001
ICTR/ MEDIA
LAWYER SUGGESTS DEATH ROW WITNESS TESTIFYING FOR HIS LIFE
Arusha, September 6th, 2001 (FH) - A defence lawyer in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda's so-called Media trial on Thursday suggested that a death row prosecution witness was testifying in exchange for his life.
"You are really just a dead man walking," US lawyer John Floyd remarked to witness AHI in cross-examination. The witness is detained in Rwanda, after pleading guilty to genocide and being sentenced to death. He has appealed the sentence.
Presiding judge Navanathem Pillay told Floyd he was "not in the streets of Detroit here" and told him to phrase a pertinent question. Floyd wanted to know if AHI believed he was going to die as a result of his death sentence.
The witness replied that he had been convicted on the basis of accusations against him and that he believed in God, so he was not unduly saddened.
"You know you're not gonna die," Floyd challenged the witness, "because you know you've cut a deal to come and testify here in exchange for saving your life."
This trial groups three genocide suspects accused of using the media to fuel the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. They are: Ferdinand Nahimana, a founder of RTLM radio; Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, a former politician and board member of RTLM; and Hassan Ngeze, former editor of the "Kangura" newspaper. Floyd is representing Ngeze against his will.
In his testimony in chief, AHI said he had been a member of the Impuzamigambi (a militia of hardline Hutu party CDR) in Gisenyi, northwest Rwanda, during the 1994 genocide. He said he had also worked for Ngeze as a newspaper vendor.
AHI testified mainly against Ngeze, saying the accused had wielded power in Gisenyi, sown disunity between Hutus and Tutsis and personally participated in the murder of a Tutsi man, Modeste Tabaro. "Those with whom I committed the crimes," AHI told the court, "were Hassan Ngeze, Anatole Nsengiyumva (former military commander of Gisenyi region, detained at the ICTR), Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza" and others.
Debate on self-incrimination
Pursuing his cross-examination, Floyd asked AHI how many people he had actually killed. This prompted Judge Pillay to intervene, inviting the Prosecutor to point to ICTR Rules on self-incrimination.
Prosecutor Stephen Rapp pointed to Rule 90e, which states that: "A witness may refuse to make any statement which may tend to incriminate him. The Chamber may, however, compel the witness to answer the question. Testimony compelled in this way shall not be used as evidence in a subsequent prosecution against the witness for any offence other than perjury."
"We should not be involved in the process of compelling him (the witness) to incriminate himself and affecting his appeal," argued Rapp. He said the Rule allowed this only if the ICTR could provide immunity and that "the Tribunal is powerless to immunize him in Rwanda".
Rapp said that the content of AHI's confessions should become clearer once prosecution had obtained documents from the Rwandan government, which, he said, "we have asked for today". Earlier this week, the court ordered the prosecution to produce criminal records of detainee witnesses that have testified or intend to testify. These include defence plea agreements, dates of any convictions and sentencing of detainee witnesses.
Floyd stressed that AHI had confessed to genocide, meaning that he had not been tried, and that people who confess normally got lighter sentences. AHI, however, had been sentenced to death, he said. Ngeze's lawyer contended that the witness must be a "mass murderer" and that "the court should take that into consideration when evaluating him".
JC/FH (ME_0906e)
* SEPTEMBER 5th, 2001
ICTR/KAMUHANDA
THREE WITNESSES TESTIFY BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
Arusha, September 5th, 2001 (FH) - A third consecutive prosecution witness testified in closed session Wednesday in the genocide trial of former Rwandan minister Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda, before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
The case restarted on Monday with the testimony of a UN investigator, Upendra Singh Bhagal, in open court. The second witness in the case, investigator Albert Torch Martin, was heard in closed session, after the court heard that his testimony could reveal details of protected witnesses.
Protected witness "GEK" then testified in camera. On Wednesday another protected witness, "GEK" began testifying, also in closed session.
Kamuhanda is charged with genocide, complicity in genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including rape and murder. He has pleaded not-guilty to all nine counts against him.
Defence maintains that the prosecution's allegations are "vague" and that Kamuhanda was arrested just because he was a minister in the interim government set up during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Kamuhanda was minister of higher education in the interim government. His case opened briefly on April 17th before Trial Chamber Two of the ICTR. However, the Chamber was recomposed following the death of its former presiding judge Laity Kama, and the case was this week restarted.
The trial is now before judges William Hussein Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill Mantanzima Maqutu of Lesotho.
SW/JC/FH (KH_0905e)
* 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)
* SEPTEMBER 4th 2001
ICTR/MEDIA
DEATH ROW INMATE TESTIFIES AT RWANDA TRIBUNAL
Arusha, September 4th, 2001 (FH) - A genocide convict on death row in Rwanda on Tuesday testified for the prosecution in the so-called Media trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
The Media trial groups three suspects linked to the so-called "hate media" in Rwanda before and during the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda. They are: Ferdinand Nahimana, former director of Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM); Jean-Bosco-Barayagwiza, former politician and RTLM board member; and Hassan Ngeze, former editor of the newspaper Kangura.
Witness AHI, named as such to protect his identity, told the court that he had been a member of the Impuzamigambi (a militia of extremist Hutu party CDR) during the 1994 genocide. He said he had also worked for Ngeze as a newspaper vendor.
AHI told the court that Ngeze had been a "powerful and intelligent member of society who sowed disunity among the Tutsis and Hutus". The witness described Ngeze as having been "like a president of Gisenyi", the northwest Rwandan province from which he hails.
AHI also said that Ngeze had personally participated in the murder of one Modeste Tabaro, a Tutsi man. He said he (the witness) had heard several gunshots that night, after which he walked towards Ngeze's house to find out what had happened. AHI said Tabaro had been shot and was lying down in the street when Ngeze put a gun to his chest and finished him off.
AHI further told the court that during the genocide, Ngeze had given him (AHI) and other militiamen guns to use in searching for and killing Tutsis.
The witness also said that Ngeze had supervised and participated in the manning of roadblocks around Gisenyi province to identify and kill Tutsis.
"What I'm telling you," AHI told the court, "is what I saw with my own eyes or participated in."
Witness AHI is due to continue his testimony on Wednesday. The prosecution in this trial is represented by Steven Rapp and Simone Monasabien of the US, Alphonse Van of Ivory Coast and Charity Kagwe of Kenya.
The case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of judges Navanethem Pillay of South Africa, Erik Mose of Norway and Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana of Sri Lanka.
GG/JC/FH(ME_0904f)
* SEPTEMBER 4th, 2001
ICTR / MEDIA
COURT ORDERS PRODUCTION OF DETAINEE WITNESS RECORDS
Arusha, September 4th, 2001 (FH) - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Tuesday ordered the prosecution to produce criminal records of detainee witnesses that have testified or intend to testify in the so-called Media Trial.
This trial groups three suspects linked to the so-called "hate media" in Rwanda before and during the 1994 genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda. They are: Ferdinand Nahimana, former director of Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM); Jean-Bosco-Barayagwiza, former politician and RTLM board member; and Hassan Ngeze, former editor of the newspaper Kangura.
Presiding Judge Navanethem Pillay requested prosecution to disclose to defence plea agreements, dates of any convictions and sentencing of custodial witnesses.
The ruling follows a defence request on Monday that the prosecution disclose confession statements made by detainee witness 'LAG' to the Rwandan judiciary. Witness LAG, named as such to protect his identity, is serving an 11-year jail term in Rwanda where he pleaded guilty to genocide in 1999.
Prosecutor Charity Kagwe of Kenya had said the prosecution did not possess the statements and was not obliged to locate them.
LAG testified mainly against the accused Ngeze. The witness told the court that in 1994, after the burial of assassinated former president of CDR (a Hutu extremist party) Martin Bucyana, Ngeze had warned that: " Now our president has just died, but if Habyarimana were to die, we would not tolerate the Tutsis anymore." The subsequent death of former president Juvénal Habyarimana in a plane crash on April 6th, 1994, sparked the genocide.
LAG said Ngeze made the remarks amidst an angry crowd of CDR militia mourners at the Bucyana's home.
LAG, a former militiaman and member of PL-Power (a Hutu-extremist wing of PL party) told the court that after Ngeze's remarks and several other meetings made by extremist Hutu political leaders, he (LAG) and other militiamen went to seek and kill Tutsis.
Ngeze's defence counsel John Floyd of the US suggested that the person LAG had identified as Ngeze during Bucyana's funeral could in fact have been one of Ngeze's brothers. However, the witness told the court he knew Ngeze well enough not to make such a mistake.
Witness LAG completed his testimony on Tuesday. The court went on to hear the 29th prosecution witness, dubbed AHI to protect his identity. AHI, 40, is a genocide convict on death row in Rwanda. He is a former member of Impuzamigambi (a militia of the CDR party).
This case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of judges Pillay, Erik Mose of Norway and Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana of Sri Lanka.
GG/JC/PHD/FH (ME_0905e)
* AUGUST 23rd, 2001
_______________________________________________________________
ICTR/MEDIA
WITNESS CLAIMS NAHIMANA'S WRITING WAS 'EXTREMIST'
Arusha, August 23rd 2001 (FH) - A prosecution witness at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) .on Thursday accused genocide suspect Ferdinand Nahimana of advocating regionalism and extremism in his writings.
The 27th prosecution witness, a 65 year-old Rwandan known as "BU" to protect his identity, was responding to questions from the defence on the fourth day of his testimony in the so-called Media Trial.
This case groups three suspects accused of having used the media to incite killings of Tutsis and moderate Hutus during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. They are: former director of Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) Ferdinand Nahimana; former editor of "Kangura" newspaper Hassan Ngeze; and former politician and RTLM board member Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza.
BU told the court that in a thesis written by Nahimana in 1986, he emerged as "regionalist, ethnist and exclusivist". But Nahimana's French defence counsel Jean-Marie Biju-Duval noted that a
prosecution expert witness [ French professor Jean-Pierre Chrétien who was a jury member when Nahimana presented his thesis] was "full of praises" for the same thesis.
Nahimana’s lawyer read out excerpts that called for cultural and national unity of the people of Rwanda and said that these contradicted the witness's claims. However, BU said he had gone through the thesis and pointed out pages and sections which he maintained promote regionalism.
Prosecution had wanted to submit as evidence a diary kept by the witness, supposedly in 1994. However, on Tuesday they were forced to withdraw it after defence lawyers pointed our discrepancies between two versions of the diary. Defence told the court that copies available to them had additional insertions made well after 1994. The witness admitted he had made later additions.
On Wednesday, head of the prosecution team Stephen Rapp (USA) apologized to the Chamber for the handling of the diary disclosure and the late disclosure of some other documents. "I believe we have erred and promise to do better,” he said. “It indicates some carelessness on the part of the prosecution for which I take full responsibility."
The trial resumed on Monday August 20th, after a judicial recess. BU’s testimony continues next Monday with cross-examination of the witness by defence counsels for Ngeze and Barayagwiza.
This case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of Judges Navanethem Pillay of South Africa, Erik Mose of Norway and Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana of Sri Lanka.
SW/JC/MBR/FH (ME_0823e)
* AUGUST 18th, 2001
_______________________________________________________________
ICTR/ REGISTRY
RWANDA TRIBUNAL REINSTATES SACKED DEFENCE INVESTIGATOR
Arusha, August 18th, 2001 (FH) - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has reversed a decision to sack Media Trial defence investigator Aloys Ngendahimana, admitting that it may have mistakenly identified him as one of Rwanda’s top genocide suspects.
Ngendahimana, an investigator for genocide suspect Ferdinand Nahimana, was one of four investigators whom the ICTR sacked in July, saying they were either on Kigali’s Category One list of genocide suspects or under investigation by the Tribunal Prosecutor for involvement in the 1994
genocide.
Defence lawyers working with Ngendahimana maintained that the person on the Category One list bore the same name but was not the same person. They said they had evidence to that effect and that the ICTR had not consulted them before announcing its decision.
Tribunal Registrar Adama Dieng of Senegal initially stood his ground. However, on August 17th, the Registrar said there was now reliable information indicating the possibility that Ngendahimana and the person under investigation by the Rwandan authorities are namesakes.
The ICTR also states that the present information available to the Registrar cannot "confirm that the person sought by the Rwandan authorities is in fact the investigator from Ferdinand Nahimana's defence team”. "The decision not to renew Mr Ngendahimana's contract is therefore rescinded," the statement said.
Reacting to the news, Ngendahimana told Hirondelle on the telephone from Belgium: “It is regrettable that the decision has come too late, whereas the information should have been verified before deciding to terminate my contract. I find it regrettable that an institution like the ICTR takes lightly accusations as serious as genocide.”
Ngendahimana said he felt it would be difficult for him to sue the ICTR for having tarnished his name. He said he simply hoped it would be more careful from now on, “and above all not trust Kigali which wants to get people arrested no matter how”.
The decision to reinstate Ngendahimana came just before the August 20th resumption of the Media Trial after the judicial recess.
The other three ICTR defence investigators sacked in July are: Augustin Basebya, who worked for the defence team of former Rwandan mayor Juvénal Kajelijeli; Augustin Karera, who worked for the team of former minister Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda; and Thaddée Kwitonda, who was an investigator for presumed ex-militia leader Arsène Shalom Ntahobali.
Some sources at the ICTR indicate that Karera was previously arrested and jailed in Rwanda but was then released for lack of evidence.
SW/BN/JC/MBR/FH (RE_0818e)
* AUGUST 9th, 2001
_______________________________________________________________
ICTR/ REGISTRAR/ JUDGES
REGISTRAR SAYS RWANDA TRIBUNAL WANTS MORE JUDGES
Arusha, August 9th, 2001 (FH) - The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has asked the UN to approve a pool of 18 "ad litem" (standby) judges for the ICTR, to help it discharge its heavy caseload, Tribunal Registrar Adama Dieng of Senegal told a recent international conference.
Dieng said ICTR judges recognized that "the pace of justice needs to be expedited without compromising the integrity of the process" and had, over the past two years, introduced a number of changes to the ICTR's Rules to "remove delays and bottlenecks in the judicial process". But he admitted further measures were now needed.
"The judges are now approaching the outer limit to the possibilities for amending the Rules, and it has become clear that, in order to discharge the Tribunal's heavy caseload by the end of the decade, given the current and future caseload generated by the indictments of the Prosecutor, additional judicial manpower is necessary, " Dieng said.
He was speaking at a "Justice in Africa" conference held in Wilton Park, southeast England, which ended on August 2nd.
Registrar Dieng stressed that the ICTR's mandate was to try only the ringleaders of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, that it was doing this job, and that it would try at most "100-150 persons during its lifespan".
Since it started operations in late 1995, the ICTR has handed down nine verdicts: eight convictions and one acquittal. It currently has 51 people in detention under its jurisdiction and 15 people on trial.
Dieng noted that the average length of trials so far at both the ICTR and the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was 18 months. "The problem of slow pace of trials is a systematic problem of international criminal justice as the concept works in the two UN criminal
tribunals," he told the conference, "and is not peculiar to the Arusha Tribunal…"
He noted that the ICTY "earlier requested similar additional judicial manpower and the (UN) General Assembly on 12 June 2001 elected 27 ad litem judges for that Tribunal". Some observers have asked why the ICTR did not at that time also ask for ad litem judges to serve as standby extra judicial resources.
Informed sources at the ICTR had previously told Hirondelle in July 2001 that the subject of ad litem judges for the Tribunal was on the table. Hirondelle put the question to one source as to whether, even if these judges were approved, the ICTR would not have to find new courtrooms. The
Tribunal currently has only three, rented from Tanzania's state-run Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC). Each court has three judges.
In reply, the source said that the possibility of a shift system was under review, meaning that the courtrooms would be used to maximum capacity during the available working hours.
All the organs of the ICTR - Chambers, Registry and Prosecution - seem aware of the need for reforms to speed up the trials. But even with the current three courts and nine judges, simultaneous operation of the three Trial Chambers is still a rare event. The scheduling of trials frequently leaves all parties frustrated and the illness or absence of one judge can still hold up a trial indefinitely. These problems will also need to be tackled as the ICTR presses for structural reforms to speed up its judicial process.
JC/MBR/FH (RE_0809e)
* AUGUST 8th, 2001
_______________________________________________________________
ICTR/MPAMBARA
FORMER RWANDAN MAYOR PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO GENOCIDE, CALLS FOR RELEASE
Arusha, August 8th, 2001 (FH) - Former Rwandan mayor Jean Mpambara on Wednesday pleaded not guilty to genocide before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). He urged the court to order his immediate release, saying his arrest was illegal.
Mpambara was mayor of Rukara, in the eastern Rwandan region of Kibungo, at the time of the 1994 genocide. He was arrested in a Tanzanian refugee camp on June 20th, along with another former Rwandan mayor, Sylvestre Gacumbitsi.
The ICTR Prosecutor alleges that Mpambara, "acting in concert with others, participated in the planning, preparation or execution of a common scheme, strategy, plan or campaign with intent to destroy Tutsis" in Rukara.
Mpambara claimed that he was illegally arrested along with Gacumbitsi. "A second suspect was supposed to be arrested, but it was not me," he said. "When they failed to find that person, the ICTR agents requested that I be detained."
The accused said the indictment against him had been "fabricated" and that he was being victimized because he once worked as a civil servant under former president Juvénal Habyarimana. Before becoming mayor of Rukara, Mpambara was director of the Official Gazette ("Journal Officiel") in the president's office.
Presiding Judge Andrésia Vaz of Senegal said that such issues could be raised in a pre-trial motion at a later stage. Mpambara was represented in court by a Tanzanian duty counsel, Bharat Chadha.
"I plead not guilty," the 47-year-old former mayor calmly responded after being informed of the charges against him. He is charged with one count of genocide.
The indictment alleges that "between April 7th, 1994, and April 9th, 1994, Jean Mpambara circulated in Rukara commune aboard his vehicle, advised the Tutsi population to take shelter at Rukara parish, assured them that they would be safe, and transported persons seeking shelter to Rukara Parish in his vehicle"
Subsequently, according to the indictment, "Jean Mpambara ordered, led, instigated, facilitated or otherwise aided and abetted attacks against civilian Tutsi men, women and children" that gathered in public buildings in Gahini district, such as Gahini hospital and Rukara parish.
Mpambara is also accused of having mobilized, co-ordinated, trained and armed members of the Interahamwe militia (the youth wing of the then ruling party MRND) in Rukara commune. These Interahamwe allegedly murdered, tortured, raped and looted from Tutsis.
GG/JC/MBR/FH(MP_0808e)
JULY 26th, 2001
_______________________________________________________________
ICTR/ BAGILISHEMA
ICTR REGISTRAR WILL PRESS FRANCE TO TAKE ACQUITTED MAYOR
Arusha, July 26th, 2001 (FH) - International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Registrar Adama Dieng of Senegal said on Thursday he hoped to meet shortly with the French foreign minister in Paris, to urge France to grant asylum to acquitted Rwandan ex-mayor Ignace Bagilishema.
Bagilishema became, on June 7th, the first person to be acquitted on all charges by the ICTR. He has expressed a desire to go to a European country, but no country will so far take him, and he remains in UN custody in Arusha.
Dieng told a press conference in Arusha on Thursday that he would be in Paris the following week and hoped to meet notably with French Minister of Foreign Affairs Hubert Védrine.
"We are hoping that France, with its long tradition of human rights and support for the ICTR will consider with sympathy" the request that it accommodate Bagilishema, said Dieng. He stressed that France was the only country where court-imposed conditions for Bagilishema's release had so far been met, although he added that the ICTR was also contacting other countries.
The judges initially ordered Bagilishema's immediate release, but the ICTR Prosecutor announced she was appealing his acquittal, and asked that he be kept in custody. The court then ordered that Bagilishema must have two people to guarantee that he would turn up in court and an address in his prospective country of residence, before he can be released.
France, two Scandinavian countries and the United States are so far known to have turned down requests to grant Bagilishema asylum. Bagilishema's French lawyer François Roux told Hirondelle in Arusha on Tuesday that he had asked the ICTR Registry to approach Canada.
"I am a bit embarrassed that he (Bagilishema) is still around," Dieng told journalists. The Registrar stressed that Bagilishema had been acquitted, and that the UN in particular could not afford to be accused of an "arbitrary and illegal detention".
Roux has complained that the ICTR Statute does not make any provision for acquittals. Asked how the ICTR might avoid a similar situation in the future, Dieng said that it was being addressed by "one of our judicial recess studies". The ICTR has just gone into its annual judicial recess.
One perceived problem is that any host country may attract Rwanda's disapproval. Although Rwanda has not threatened retaliatory action, as it did when the ICTR Appeals Court ordered the release on procedural grounds of another ICTR detainee (Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza), the Kigali authorities were clearly not happy with the Tribunal's decision to acquit Bagilishema.
However Dieng, who recently paid a three-day visit to Kigali, refuted this idea. "I don't think at all that Rwanda would ever consider the fact of accommodating an acquitted person as an unfriendly gesture," he told the press. "They respect our decision."
GA/JC/MBR/FH (BS_0726e)
*JULY 27th, 2001
_______________________________________________________________
ICTR/KAJELIJELI
KAJELIJELI DEFENCE SAYS ITS WITNESSES ARE IN DANGER
Arusha, July 25th 2001 (FH) - The defence team for former Rwandan mayor Juvénal Kajelijeli on Wednesday told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that its witnesses feared coming to testify, owing to "Rwandan government influence" in the dismissal of Kajelijeli's
investigator Augustin Basebya.
Basebya was one of four ICTR defence investigators sacked by the Tribunal on suspicion of crimes related to the 1994 genocide. The ICTR said Basebya and two of the other dismissed investigators were on Rwanda's Category One list of top genocide suspects.
"They (witnesses) are now saying that if the Tribunal is unable to protect an investigator, then it can not protect them," Kajelijeli's American lawyer Lennox Hinds told the court.
Hinds reiterated his allegation that the government of Rwanda was trying to sabotage his team. Rwanda has denied this.
Trial adjourned to October 1st
Meanwhile, Kajelijeli's trial was on Wednesday adjourned until October 1st. Hearings had been due to continue to Friday, July 27th but were suspended two and a half days early because one of the three judges, Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar, had other commitments.
Two detainee witnesses from Rwanda were in Arusha waiting to testify. It is unclear whether they will remain in UN detention in Arusha until the trial resumes, or be taken back to Rwanda.
The trial adjourned after hearing the eighth prosecution witness, dubbed "GOA" to protect his identity. The prosecution intends to call seven more witnesses before it rests its case.
GOA, a confessed killer jailed in Rwanda, testified that Kajelijeli had been a very powerful man, on whose orders many Tutsis had been killed and raped during the 1994 genocide.
Hinds contested GOA's testimony in court, saying that it differed significantly from statements he made to prosecution investigators. Hinds suggested that GOA was not a reliable witness.
The case is before Trial Chamber Two of the ICTR, composed of Judges William Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho.
The Chamber has now gone into its annual judicial recess, along with the ICTR's other two courts. Trial Chamber Two is due to reconvene on September 3rd, to start the trial of former Rwandan minister of higher education Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda. Initial hearings in that case are due to
run until September 27th.
In October, the court will hear Kajelijeli's case for a week before resuming the so-called Butare trial of six accused.
GG/JC/MBR/FH (KJ_0725e)
*JULY 26th, 2001
ICTR/REGISTRY
AFRICAN COUNTRIES SHOULD TRY GENOCIDE SUSPECTS, SAYS RWANDA TRIBUNAL REGISTRAR
Arusha, July 26th, 2001 (FH) - International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Registrar Adama Dieng on Thursday called on African countries to emulate Belgium by trying Rwandan genocide suspects.
Belgium last month tried and convicted four Rwandan nationals on charges related to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The trial was the first of its kind held by a national civil court outside Rwanda.
"It is also my hope that like Belgium, we will witness one day an African state taking action regarding the trial of suspects of genocide," Dieng told journalists at the ICTR headquarters in Arusha.
The Registrar said the ICTR alone did not have the capacity to try all suspects of the 1994 genocide. He said it would only try about 150 people.
Since it was set up in 1995, the ICTR has completed trials of nine suspects, three of whom pleaded guilty. Eight were given prison sentences of between 12 years and life, while one was acquitted.
Cooperation with Rwanda
The Registrar was speaking after a three-day visit to Rwanda last week, during which he met ICTR staff in Kigali, Rwandan authorities and various civil groups.
Dieng said that his meetings with Rwandan authorities, including the ministers of Justice and Foreign Affairs, focused on boosting cooperation between the ICTR and Kigali. He said he had also stressed the need forTribunal defence lawyers to have access to investigate and find witnesses in Rwanda. Some defence lawyers at the ICTR have complained of problems in this respect.
"It was important to address also that issue with the authorities," Dieng told journalists, "to make sure that they will continue to provide and even increase the level of cooperation towards the defence. (…) And I should say that they have really got the message."
"As you know," said the Registrar, "without the possibility of gathering evidence in a free manner, justice will not be done. (…) That is why the cooperation of the Rwandan government is crucial when it comes to gathering evidence in Rwanda."
He said that Rwandan Justice Minister Jean de Dieu Mucyo had asked to meet defence lawyers for a discussion on their concerns.
ICTR trials in Rwanda?
Dieng also reiterated that the ICTR aimed to hold part of its trials on Rwandan territory. "We are supervising the construction of a courtroom at the Supreme Court building in Kigali," he said.
However, the Registrar could not say when such hearings might start. He said both the Registry and Prosecution were in favour, but that there were many hurdles and the final decision would be up to the judges.
Among the problems, he cited security concerns and the question of whether ICTR detainees would be willing to go to Rwanda. "Will the accused accept to be tried in Rwanda?" asked Dieng, "Are we in position to oblige them to be tried in Kigali?"
Dieng said that Rwanda was still short of funds to construct the courtroom and needed more funding from donors. He said Switzerland had donated $100,000 and that he hoped the European Community would also be willing to contribute.
The Registrar also said the ICTR was planning to open a radio station in Rwanda as part of its "Outreach Programme". He could not give a time frame for its launch but said that it would be an important tool to inform Rwandans about the work of the Tribunal.
Dieng said that the radio could also be used for educative and human rights broadcasts. He added that it would not broadcast political programmes.
GG/JC/PHD/FH (RE_0726F)
* JULY 27th, 2001
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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)
*JULY 26th, 2001
ICTR/ REGISTRAR
RWANDA TRIBUNAL REGISTRAR PROMISES NEW CULTURE OF TRANSPARENCY
Arusha, July 26th, 2001 (FH) - Speaking in his first press conference since appointment in March, Rwanda Tribunal Registrar Adama Dieng on Thursday promised to tackle the tribunal's problems in a new atmosphere of transparency.
"It is really my true commitment to ensure that my management philosophy is based on team work and meritocracy," Dieng told journalists at the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha. "And I am determined to advance the reform of the management culture in this Tribunal."
Dieng, a Senegalese who was formerly head of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) took over from Agwu Okali of Nigeria earlier this year. Okali had been Registrar for four years, but his contract was not renewed.
The new Registrar said he had already begun tackling problems such as screening of defence investigators and possible abuse of the legal aid system; recruitment practices; witness protection; enforcement of sentences; cooperation with member states; and extension of the ICTR's "Outreach" programme in Rwanda. This includes plans for a UN radio in Rwanda, to bring the tribunal's activities to the "grassroots", he said.
Dieng was speaking after a three-day visit to Rwanda last week during which he met with government officials, including the ministers of Justice and Foreign Affairs, the president of the Supreme Court and the Attorney General. "Discussions, of course, were centred around the strengthening of the cooperation between the ICTR and the Rwanda government," the Registrar told journalists.
Defence investigators
The Registrar recently announced that four ICTR defence investigators had been sacked because they were either on Rwanda's Category One list of top genocide suspects or were under investigation by the Tribunal for involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
"As a long standing human rights activist, no-one - and I said no-one - can justifiably accuse me of insensitivity to the rights of the defence," he told the press. "But there is a big difference between human rights, and abuse of rights at the expense of the Tribunal. (...) I will therefore do what is necessary to eliminate abuses of the legal aid system in the Tribunal."
British defence lawyer Diana Ellis, working with one of the sacked investigators in the team of genocide suspect Ferdinand Nahimana, says the ICTR has got the wrong person, and that the Tribunal neither consulted them nor investigated properly.
Asked about this, Dieng replied: "I think one has to look into the matter. I mean I will not dismiss like that the representation made by that lawyer." He said he had been assured that, contrary to Ellis's claim, defence lawyers had been informed prior to the decision, and that there seemed to be a "misunderstanding" between Ellis and the Registry official in charge of defence lawyers.
He said he was now expecting to receive photographs to check whether Nahimana's defence investigator had been confused with another person of the same name on the Category One list. Asked why photos had not been requested beforehand, Dieng said he would have done so if he had suspected a case of mistaken identity. But he said the Tribunal had to be particularly careful given the case of investigator Siméon Nshamihigo, who was arrested for genocide in May after working at the ICTR under a false identity.
"I have instructed the defence lawyers management section of the Registry to take all measures to eliminate abuses of the legal aid system," Dieng continued. "It is within that frame also that I have established a panel which is looking into the legal aid system. It is indeed following their first report that I had to take the measure regarding four investigators."
"Another important measure we are going to take," Dieng told journalists, "is the appointment of an investigator to look into the claims of indigence by accused persons, before assigning lawyers to such a person at the Tribunal's expense, as well as to check the backgrounds of defence investigators appointed by the defence counsel." He said he hoped the UN would approve a post for such an investigator in the ICTR's next budget.
"When I received the panel's report I noticed that there are investigators whose case will continue even to be monitored closely," said the Registrar. But he also stressed that other defence investigators were "beyond reproach" and that they should be acknowledged.
New recruitment practices?
One of the Tribunal's problems has been perceived to be a lack of competent staff in some areas, as well as high vacancy rates. The previous Registrar was accused by some people at the Tribunal of having promoted a culture of "favours for fidelity rather than competence". Following his departure, several people were sacked both in Prosecution and the Registry, which provoked some acrimonious allegations of racism.
"I want really my tenure to remembered also with the word of transparency, fairness, justice," Dieng said on this issue, "and that is one of the reasons I am going to propose to the (UN) Secretary General a new Appointment Promotion Board (APB), because I want really that we start fresh.
"There has been of course criticism here and there," he continued, "and I want really that we start having a process in which people will be recruited based on their competence. (…) And that is where I hope also that the staff association will play its role, that means that they will nominate people for the APB that are known for their integrity, etc. And the same with promotion."
"This is not a criticism of previous management," said Dieng, " but (…) I think we have been too generous with some staff members even, and we have to look into this matter."
JC/PHD/FH (RE_0726e)
*JULY 26th, 2001
_______________________________________________________________
ICTR/ REGISTRAR
RWANDA TRIBUNAL REGISTRAR PROMISES NEW CULTURE OF TRANSPARENCY
Arusha, July 26th, 2001 (FH) - Speaking in his first press conference since appointment in March, Rwanda Tribunal Registrar Adama Dieng on Thursday promised to tackle the tribunal's problems in a new atmosphere of transparency.
"It is really my true commitment to ensure that my management philosophy is based on team work and meritocracy," Dieng told journalists at the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha. "And I am determined to advance the reform of the management culture in this Tribunal.
Dieng, a Senegalese who was formerly head of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) took over from Agwu Okali of Nigeria earlier this year. Okali had been Registrar for four years, but his contract was not renewed.
The new Registrar said he had already begun tackling problems such as screening of defence investigators and possible abuse of the legal aid system; recruitment practices; witness protection; enforcement of sentences; cooperation with member states; and extension of the ICTR's "Outreach" programme in Rwanda. This includes plans for a UN radio in Rwanda, to bring the tribunal's activities to the "grassroots", he said.
Dieng was speaking after a three-day visit to Rwanda last week during which he met with government officials, including the ministers of Justice and Foreign Affairs, the president of the Supreme Court and the Attorney General. "Discussions, of course, were centred around the strengthening of the cooperation between the ICTR and the Rwanda government," the Registrar told journalists.
JC/MBR/FH (RE_0726e)
*JULY 24th, 2001
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ICTR/BAGILISHEMA
ACQUITTED RWANDAN STILL LANGUISHING IN CUSTODY
Arusha, July 24th, 2001 (FH) - Former Rwandan mayor Ignace Bagilishema, who became on June 7th the first person acquitted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), is finding it hard to understand why he is still in isolated UN custody, his lawyer said in Arusha on Tuesday afternoon.
"He is up and down, but he is finding the time very long and he doesn't understand why he is still there," François Roux of France told Hirondelle. Roux said that Bagilishema, despite being technically a free man, still has no more freedom or privileges than he has had for the last two and a half years in ICTR custody.
Roux does not blame the ICTR as such, but rather the UN member states that set the Tribunal up, "and particularly the permanent members of the Security Council", he says, which are unwilling to offer asylum to an acquitted Rwandan genocide suspect.
Two of these countries - France and the United States - have been approached via the ICTR Registrar to take Bagilishema in, but both have refused. Roux says he is unaware of any reasons for their decisions, but rather that "they let it be known that it is not possible". Similar requests have also been turned down by two Scandinavian countries.
Roux confirmed that he had now asked the ICTR to approach Canada as a potential host country for Bagilishema. He said African countries had not been approached as yet "for obvious security reasons". "The purpose of my visit here," he told Hirondelle in Arusha, "is to alert the ICTR to the situation in which we find ourselves." Roux added that his cooperation with the ICTR Registry had always been good and continued to be so.
Human rights abuse?
"I am arguing on behalf of a free man," Roux pleaded to the court immediately after Bagilishema's acquittal on June 7th this year. He insisted that, according to international law, detention should be the exception and freedom the norm. "This man has been declared not-guilty and he should be freed," Roux argued.
Nearly two months on, and despite protests from Amnesty International, Bagilishema remains in custody with nowhere to go. He does not feel he can safely go back to Rwanda but, according to Roux, wants to go to a European country.
"What is frightening," Agence France Presse (AFP) quoted Roux as saying in an earlier press interview on July 15th, "is to note that the (ICTR's) Statutes do not consider acquittal, and that consequently the ICTR was only conceived to condemn (suspects) like a machine."
Bagilishema's situation is further complicated by the fact that the ICTR attached conditions to his release, upon a request from the prosecution. Because the Prosecutor is appealing his acquittal, the court ordered that Bagilishema must have two referees to vouch that he will turn up in court, and an address in his country of destination, before the UN will release him.
Roux says the only country in which the conditions can so far be met is France, but France has refused to take him. Paris is being asked to reconsider its decision.
Asked about possible remedies, Roux said he could appeal for the court to lift its conditions. However, he said the conditions were not the first problem at the moment, but rather to find a country willing in principle to take Bagilishema.
Roux told Hirondelle that he might also ask the ICTR to appeal to the UN Security Council. The Tribunal could do this under one of its own Rules which obliges UN member states to cooperate with it. However, the ICTR has never appealed to the Security Council despite recurrent cooperation problems with member states in its several years of existence.
"It is rather the international community that is at fault than the Tribunal," Roux told Hirondelle. "The states that created the Tribunal ought to feel responsible for this situation."
JC/MBR/FH (BS_0724e)
*JULY 23rd, 2001
_______________________________________________________________
ICTR/KAJELIJELI
CONFESSED KILLER TESTIFIES AGAINST FORMER RWANDAN MAYOR
Arusha, July 23rd, 2001 (FH) - A confessed Interahamwe militiaman told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Monday that he personally participated in the killings of more than 600 Tutsis on the orders of former Rwandan mayor Juvénal Kajelijeli.in 1994.
Kajelijeli is accused of having ordered and presided over killings and rape of Tutsis by the Interahamwe (a youth wing of the then-ruling party MRND) during the 1994 genocide in Mukingo commune in the northern Rwandan province of Ruhengeri.
Protected witness "GOA", a twenty three- year-old Hutu man, is detained in a Rwandan jail and has been brought to the ICTR in Arusha, along with two other detainee witnesses expected to testify in Kajelijeli's genocide trial. GOA, dubbed as such to protect his identity, pleaded guilty to genocide in Ruhengeri (northwest Rwanda) in 1997 and is in jail there awaiting sentencing.
GOA also said that Kajelijeli and one Karorero had trained him and other youths in the use of weapons before dispatching them to kill Tutsis.
Kajelijeli's defence counsel Lennox Hinds of the US suggested that, as a confessed criminal awaiting sentence, GOA was testifying against his client to get a lighter sentence. "I pleaded guilty long before Kajelijeli was arrested, "GOA replied. "I'm here to testify to facts that happened."
GOA testified that on April 7th, 1994, a day after the death of the former president which sparked the genocide, Kajelijeli summoned him and 33 other Interahamwe for a meeting in a bar that belonged to the former mayor.
GOA quoted Kajelijeli has having told them: "The others have finished their work and you are still there. Go kill and exterminate all of those people at Rwankeri (in Ruhengeri)." The witness said that his group of Interahamwe immediately split into several groups and set off to kill Tutsis at Rwankeri.
GOA told the court that on their way to Rwankeri, Iyamuremye, one of his compatriots "cut off the breast of a Tutsi girl called Nyiraburanga. After cutting off her breast, he licked the blade of his machete".
He also said that two other members of his group; one Gafobo and one Ntezi, had raped a Tutsi girl and later "stuck poles through her ribs and her genital areas".
The case is before Trial Chamber Two of the ICTR, composed of Judges William Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho.
GG/JC/MBR/FH (KJ_0723e)
*JULY 20th, 2001
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ICTR/KAJELIJELI
RAPE WITNESS FINISHES TESTIFYING AFTER SEVERAL RECESSES
Arusha, July 19th, 2001 (FH) - A rape witness who collapsed in court on Wednesday finally finished her testimony on Thursday at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The court took several breaks to allow the witness time to rest and consult with the ICTR doctor who was on hand.
The witness was the seventh for the prosecution in the genocide trial of former mayor of Mukingo (northwest Rwanda) Juvenal Kajelijeli. She is a Tutsi, referred to only as "GDO" to protect her identity. GDO said on Wednesday that Kajelijeli had ordered and presided over the rape of her daughter and had also been responsible for the death of her husband and her son.
In his cross-examination, Kajelijeli's American lawyer Lennox Hinds dwelt on inconsistencies between the statements GDO made to prosecution investigators last year and her testimony in court. Hinds said it was difficult to know where the truth lay.
GDO repeatedly said that she did not know how to read or write, so was unable to correct the statements taken by the investigators, although they had been read out to her. "I am here today," she said. "Ask me anything. Kajelijeli is here, he knows that all I'm saying happened."
The trial adjourned to Monday after the defence indicated that it needed more time to prepare for the next prosecution witness. This comes after the order of witnesses was changed.
The case is before Trial Chamber Two of the ICTR, composed of Judges William Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho.
GG/MBR/FH (KJ_0719e)
*JULY 18th, 2001
_______________________________________________________________
ICTR/KAJELIJELI
WITNESS COLLAPSES AS SHE TESTIFIES ON HER DAUGHTER'S RAPE
Arusha, July 18th, 2001 (FH) - A mother testifying on her daughter's rape collapsed in court on Wednesday afternoon at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Protection measures for the witness, whose identity is supposed to be hidden from the public, were forgotten as she was wheeled out of the Tribunal front entrance in a wheelchair, with her face uncovered.
The witness had complained several times that she was feeling unwell and had been sobbing throughout most of her testimony. She had been testifying since morning on the rape of her 15-year-old daughter by a gang of militias and the killing of her husband and their elder son during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The court had allowed her to take several breaks earlier in the day when she showed distress.
The mother is the seventh prosecution witness in the genocide trial of former mayor of Mukingo (northwest Rwanda) Juvénal Kajelijeli. She is a Tutsi, referred to only as "GDO" to protect her identity. GDO said earlier that Kajelijeli had ordered and presided over the rape of her daughter and
had also been responsible for the death of her husband and her son.
"She screamed and I looked at her surrounded by Interahamwe (a militia attached to the then ruling party MRND), and one of them was on her," GDO told the court before bursting into tears. "They were as many as ants. Kajelijeli was standing by my daughter."
The witness said that the rape took place on a road near her residence. She said she watched the rape from a nearby bush where she had taken cover after hearing her daughter scream.
"I couldn't hold it any longer. I felt the motherly sympathy and rose up from the bush to see what was happening," GDO said. "They saw me. They called me, undressed me and beat me up. They left me for dead," she added.
"Long after the departure of the Interahamwe, when I had regained my consciousness, I saw my daughter lying down with her mouth open and her legs spread apart," she said. "The child (GDO's younger son, who survived) was next to the blood-soaked dead body. The blood flowed from the sexual organ of my daughter," she said amid tears.
An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during the genocide in Rwanda. Kajelijeli is charged with eleven counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The case is before Trial Chamber Two of the ICTR, composed of Judges William Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho.
GG/JC/MBR/FH (KJ_0718e)
*JULY 17th, 2001
_______________________________________________________________
ICTR/BAGILISHEMA
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES REFUSE TO TAKE ACQUITTED EX-MAYOR
Arusha, July 17th, 2001 (FH) - France has refused asylum to acquitted Rwandan genocide suspect Ignace Bagilishema, despite two French nationals "of high moral standing" having guaranteed they would accommodate him, says Bagilishema's lawyer. Two Scandinavian countries also subsequently refused similar requests, he says.
"That is how we find ourselves in the unbelievable situation where no country is willing to take him in, despite the court order (for his release)," Bagilishema's French defence counsel told Hirondelle by 'phone from France on Tuesday.
Bagilishema was the first Rwandan genocide suspect before the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to be acquitted on all charges, on June 7th this year. The court ordered his immediate release, but then, at the request of the prosecution which said it would appeal,
imposed conditions for his liberation. According to the court order, Bagilishema must have two referees to vouch that he will turn up in court, and an address in his country of destination, before the UN will release him.
Roux says that these conditions were met in France on June 11th, only three days after the court order. However, a request to the French authorities was rejected after several weeks of waiting for a response. No reason was given. Bagilishema's lawyer said he had subsequently asked the ICTR Registrar to approach two Scandinavian countries, but their response had also been negative. Asked if the court's conditions had been fulfilled there, he replied that this had not been the case.
"Unfortunately we are not in a position at the moment to be able to fulfil the conditions in any country other than France," Roux told Hirondelle. That was why, he said, Bagilishema's defence team had asked the ICTR Registry to exert pressure on France to reconsider its decision.
Roux said he hoped France would change its mind, but admitted that in any case this would take time. He said that every day that passes is another day of "abnormal detention" for Bagilishema, who has been declared a free man but is still in isolated UN custody.
"He is still under the mandate of the Registrar, who really cannot do anything else," says Roux. "The Tribunal itself is not directly responsible, but rather the (UN) member states."
Asked what he could do, Roux said that as well as asking the Registrar to exert pressure, he was also asking for the Tribunal to invoke Article 28 of its Statute and refer to the UN Security Council to oblige member states to cooperate with it. It was abnormal, he said, that those who had created the ICTR Statute had not provided for what should happen in the case of an acquittal.
"My hope is that if the matter is referred to the Security Council, the Council will also take the opportunity to revise the Statute and make provision for such cases," he told Hirondelle. "I think that all democrats and all people concerned with human rights should be concerned about this
absence (of provisions for the case of acquittal)."
With one UN member state (Italy) also refusing to carry out an ICTR-requested arrest, Roux said that: "I think UN member states are not giving the Tribunal the full means to carry out its judicial policy. If we believe in the Tribunal, we have to do that."
Prosecutor's appeal
ICTR Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte meanwhile filed on July 9th a notice of appeal against Bagilishema's acquittal. It is unclear whether she can be considered to have met the 30-day deadline for appeal.
Bagilishema had been charged with seven counts of genocide and crimes against humanity. The prosecution alleged that he had helped plan and execute massacres of Tutsis in the commune of Mabanza (Kibuye prefecture) in western Rwanda, of which he was mayor. However, the court found by a majority of two to one that the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Speaking after the judgement on June 7th, Del Ponte's spokeswoman Florence Hartmann told the press that the Prosecutor was confident of her evidence, but that it had been presented badly in court. "Mrs Del Ponte is aware that the evidence was not presented by the trial teams as well as it could have been," said Hartmann. "And as you know, the contract of the senior Trial Attorney (in charge of the case) was not renewed."
Del Ponte says she is appealing the acquittal on three grounds: that the Trial Chamber erred in law and in fact in concluding that Bagilishema was not responsible for crimes committed at a roadblock ("Trafipro") near his communal offices; that the Chamber erred in law by admitting the "confession" statements to Rwandan authorities of three prosecution witnesses currently in jail in Rwanda; and that it also erred in law and in fact in the way it assessed the evidence concerning crimes at the Trafipro roadblock and Kibuye stadium.
"The grounds of appeal are not well-founded," said Roux in reaction to the appeal notice, "and the Prosecutor would have done better to drop it." He said he thought the prosecution was being "unreasonably stubborn" in its legal pursuit of Bagilishema.
Asked if he thought the appeal might disqualify on the grounds that it had not been lodged in time, he replied that: "Indeed, I think we are going to pose some questions of whether this appeal is admissible, both in terms of the date it was filed and its form."
JC/MBR/FH (BS_0717e)
*JULY 17th, 2001
_______________________________________________________________
ICTR/KAJELIJELI
I ADVISED FORMER MAYOR TO STOP KILLING, SAYS WITNESS
Arusha, July 17th, 2001 (FH) - A witness told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Tuesday that he had at the peak of the 1994 genocide fruitlessly advised former mayor Juvenal Kajelijeli to stop killing civilians.
Kajelijeli was mayor of Mukingo commune, in the northwest Rwandan region of Ruhengeri during the genocide. An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during the genocide in Rwanda. Kajelijeli is charged with eleven counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
"When I met him, he was carrying a gun," the 68-year-old Hutu man only identified as GBH told the court. " I asked him to stop killing. I told him that too many people had died and now it was time to bury the dead. He instead told me that it was necessary to continue hunting for the survivors." GBH said that after this, Kajelijeli continued on his way to look for a Tutsi woman called Rachel.
GBH also told the court that his own son had participated in the genocide together with Kajelijeli. "I tried to stop him from doing it but since he was young and stronger than me, he went on. He joined Kajelijeli and his friends and they went killing," he said.
Kajelijeli's defence counsel Lennox Hinds of the US suggested to GBH that he had been motivated to come and testify against Kajelijeli because of an argument with him in 1994 over a piece of land.
GBH denied this and said that Kajelijeli's crimes were committed in broad daylight before all inhabitants of Mukingo. "Any other person can come here and tell you the same story, " he said.
The case is before Trial Chamber Two of the ICTR, composed of Judges William Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho.
GG/JC/MBR/FH (KJ_0717e)
*JULY 17th, 2001
_______________________________________________________________
ICTR/ NAHIMANA/ REGISTRY
SACKED RWANDA TRIBUNAL INVESTIGATOR'S TEAM WANTS RETRACTION FOR MISTAKEN IDENTITY
Arusha, July 17th, 2001 (FH) - A lawyer for genocide suspect Ferdinand Nahimana said on Tuesday that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) had wrongly identified their defence investigator as a Rwandan genocide suspect and that she hoped the Tribunal would retract its decision to sack him.
"We are particularly concerned because the Tribunal is concerned with the administration of justice," Nahimana's British co-counsel Diana Ellis told Hirondelle on Tuesday, "and against a background of undoubted interest by the Rwandans, it is particularly important that the Tribunal shows itself to be independent and not in any way subjected to political pressure. And it is impossible to understand how it is that those who are charged with the investigation and administration of justice can fail to make the most basic inquiries."
A statement from ICTR Registrar Adama Dieng said on Monday that four ICTR defence investigators had been fired because they were either on Rwanda's Category One list of top genocide suspects or were under investigation by the Tribunal Prosecutor on suspicion of involvement in the 1994 genocide.
The four sacked investigators include Nahimana team member Aloys Ngendahimana, said to be on the Category One list.
"It is clear that there is someone of the same name who is on the list and who is alleged to have been involved in the genocide in 1994," Ellis told Hirondelle, "but looking at the details on the list of that person, he is from a different area, his date of birth is different and his occupation is different. These facts were made known by our team some 10 days ago. What concerns and surprises us is that in the last ten days there has been no attempt to make contact with any member of the defence team of Ferdinand Nahimana in order to make inquiries as to the status of our investigator.
Ellis said Nahimana's defence team had now written to ICTR Registrar Dieng and Alessandro Calderone, chief of Lawyers and Detention Facilities Management at the Tribunal, informing them of their mistake and supplying the necessary information. "We hope that once they have given consideration to the information that we've provided, they'll do two things," Ellis told Hirondelle. "Firstly that they will issue a further statement correcting the allegation that our investigator on the Nahimana team was one of those on the list, and secondly that they will confirm that he remains an investigator as part of our team, in order to assist with all our future work on our case."
ICTR spokesman Kingsley Moghalu of Nigeria said that the Registry had received the communication from Nahimana's defence, led by Jean-Marie Biju-Duval of France, and was taking it very seriously. He said the Tribunal would have to "go through it with a toothcomb" to see whether the ICTR Registry or Nahimana's lawyers were right.
He said, however, that "these names and individuals were not randomly picked" and that "any attempt to say that we've acted without investigating is not correct". Regarding the need for extreme care, he cited the case of arrested ICTR defence investigator Siméon Nshamihigo, who had been working under a false identity and passport. Nshamihigo was arrested by the ICTR in May and has been charged with genocide.
JC/MBR/FH (RW_0717e)
* JULY 16th, 2001
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ICTR/ ITALY/ PROSECUTOR
ITALY MUST COOPERATE WITH RWANDA TRIBUNAL, SAYS PROSECUTOR
Arusha, July 16th, 2001 (FH) - Italy has an obligation to cooperate with the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) by arresting a wanted Rwandan genocide suspect, says ICTR Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte.
Del Ponte's spokeswoman Florence Hartmann told Hirondelle on Monday that the ICTR was continuing contacts with the Italian authorities to get them to arrest a Rwandan priest who has taken refuge in Italy, and to transfer him to the Tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania. The ICTR has issued an arrest warrant for him on suspicion of involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Hartmann said, however, that the situation was "deadlocked".
Last week Del Ponte told a press conference that Italy had suspended arresting the suspect, claiming it did not have an adequate legal basis to do so. Hartmann said, however, that as a member of the United Nations, Italy had a duty to cooperate with the ICTR and International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY). She said that to claim an inadequate legal basis was just an excuse.
Hartmann told Hirondelle she thought Italy should follow the example of Switzerland which, although not a UN member, has arrested genocide suspects. The latest was Emmanuel Rukundo, a former military chaplain in Rwanda. He was arrested last Thursday, and is expected to be transferred to the ICTR shortly.
Del Ponte's spokeswoman said that while the ICTR could not exert further direct pressure on Italy to arrest the suspect, the Tribunal would continue insisting on its duty to cooperate. She said the ICTR would also get other UN member states to put pressure on Italy.
Last week three Rwandan genocide suspects were arrested in three European countries (Belgium, Netherlands as well as Switzerland) at the request of the ICTR. This brings to 49 the number of people in ICTR custody (excluding former Prime Minister Jean Kambanda who is detained in The Hague and acquitted former mayor Ignace Bagilishema who is still in a safe house awaiting release).
Hartmann told Hirondelle that the Prosecutor has drawn up a plan for ICTR investigations to the year 2005, entailing some 30 arrests per year. She said that by 2005, the ICTR would have about 200 individuals detained on charges of involvement in the Rwandan genocide.
Protected?
Del Ponte's spokeswoman said she could not reveal the name of the wanted suspect in Italy because his indictment was still under seal. However, various international media have reported that the person concerned is Rwandan priest Athanase Seromba.
A report in the British daily newspaper The Guardian said on Monday that the Catholic hierarchy in Italy was helping the suspect and had "spirited him into hiding". "Father Athanase Seromba vanished with the help of the Catholic hierarchy hours before he was due to say mass in San Mauro a Signa, a village outside Florence," the paper said. "Fr Seromba had promised to explain in a sermon why the UN Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) last week sought his extradition on genocide charges."
The Guardian report quoted a spokesman for the diocese, Riccardo Bigi, as saying that: "He has not run away. We know where he is, but would rather not say where. He will spend a few days in peace to avoid curious journalists." The paper also suggested that Italy's official reason for not cooperating with the ICTR was not the real one. "Italy said it needed an ad hoc decree to cooperate," says the Guardian, "but Italian media suggested the real reason was pressure by the Vatican which has sought to play down its clergy's role in the massacres."
Father Seromba hails from Rutsiro commune in Kibuye prefecture, western Rwanda. At the time of the genocide, he was in charge of the Catholic parish of Nyange in Kivumu commune in Kibuye.
According to the London-based human rights organization African Rights, Father Seromba refused assistance to Tutsis who had taken refuge in his parish. He allegedly refused to buy them food, even with their own money. African Rights says that some 2,000 Tutsis were killed in Nyange in 1994.
According to witnesses, the church where they took refuge was bulldozed, with them inside it, on April 15th, 1994. Father Seromba is said to have been present at the bulldozing, and to have paid the bulldozer drivers.
AT/JC/MBR/FH (PR_0716E )
* JULY 16th, 2001
____________________________________
ICTR/ REGISTRY
RWANDA TRIBUNAL SACKS INVESTIGATORS SUSPECTED OF GENOCIDE
Arusha, July 16th, 2001 (FH) - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has terminated the contracts of four ICTR defence investigators suspected of involvement in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. ICTR Registrar Adama Dieng of Senegal said in a statement on Monday that the move was in line with measures announced in June "to protect the integrity of the Tribunal's judicial process".
The four sacked defence investigators are Augustin Basebya, who was working for the team of former Rwandan mayor Juvénal Kajelijeli; Augustin Karera, who was working on the case of former minister Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda; Aloys Ngandahimana, an investigator for former RTLM radio director Ferdinand Nahimana; and Thadée Kwitonda, who was on the team of former militia leader Arsène Shalom Ntahobali.
According to the Registrar's statement, the contracts of the first three have expired and are not being renewed because they are on the Rwandan government's Category One list of top genocide suspects. However, Nahimana's French defence counsel Jean-Marie Biju-Duval said in response to earlier allegations about his investigator that his team member was not the same person as the one on Kigali's Category One list.
Kwitonda's contract will expire on August 8th. But, says the Registrar's statement, "his contract has been suspended because he is currently under investigation by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for crimes allegedly committed during the 1994 genocide".
"It is of the utmost importance," says Dieng, "to stress that, in making these decisions, the Registry of the International Tribunal makes no presumption of the guilt of these individuals for the crimes for which they
are suspected or accused. Thus the Tribunal stands ready to reconsider them for clearance for employment by any defence counsel in the Tribunal should they be cleared of the charges and suspicions against them in the Rwandan judicial system or in the International Tribunal."
All the investigators concerned are working on cases that are at trial, or about to go to trial shortly. In a letter read out in court last week, Kajelijeli's investigator Basebya said he refused to come to Arusha because he had been put on the Category One list, which he said was political. He claimed that the Kigali government was intimidating certain defence investigators. Rwanda's representative to the ICTR Martin Ngoga strongly denied the allegation.
In May, the ICTR arrested one of its investigators, Siméon Nshamihigo, who was working under a false name. He had been working on the case of Samuel Imanishimwe, former commander of Cyangugu barracks in southwest Rwanda. Nshamihigo has been charged with genocide and crimes against humanity.
Following Nshamihigo's arrest, the Registry announced in June it had taken a number of measures to improve screening of defence investigators, and also to improve security at the UN Detention Facility (UNDF) in Arusha. Defence investigators are hired by defence counsels, but their recruitment
must be approved by the Tribunal.
Registrar Dieng took up his position in March. He replaced Agwu Okali of Nigeria who had been Registrar for four years and whose contract was not renewed.
JC/FH (RE_0716e)
*JULY 13th, 2001
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ICTR/BUTARE
CHAMBER DISMISSES CONTEMPT MOTION, WARNS PROSECUTOR
Arusha, July 13th, 2001 (FH) - A court of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has dismissed a Prosecutor's motion for an investigation into alleged contempt of the Tribunal, and issued a warning to prosecutors for misconduct. However, it also partially granted the Prosecutor's request for harmonization of protection measures for witnesses in the so-called ButareTrial of six accused.
The case groups former Minister of Women's Development Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, her son and former militia leader Arsène Ntahobali, former mayor of Ngoma Joseph Kanyabashi, former mayor of Muganza Elie Ndayambaje and two former prefects of Butare, Sylvain Nsabimana and Alphonse Nteziryayo. All are charged with genocide and crimes against humanity for their alleged role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
The Prosecutor had alleged that four defence team members approached four prosecution witnesses in Butare, southern Rwanda, "on or about 1 to 6 June 2001" with a view to persuading them not to testify in the trial. The Prosecutor's motion says that the defence team members falsely represented themselves as ICTR investigators and also tried to obtain information under false pretences. The motion refers to people on the defence teams of Kanyabashi and Nsabimana.
Trial Chamber Two of the ICTR, which is hearing the case, found that the Tribunal Rules would permit it to order an investigation. However, it said that considering the gravity of the allegations, the Prosecutor would first have to convince the court that there were "reasonable grounds to believe that contemptuous conduct may have taken place". The court said the Prosecutor had failed to do this.
Hearsay
In its decision, dated July 10th, the Chamber said the Prosecutor's allegations "lack precision", and that documents produced to support them amount only to hearsay and "double-hearsay evidence". The court pointed out that the Prosecutor had launched a very serious allegation against one defence team member, which she subsequently withdrew "without elaborating on the nature of this error or its scope". That, said the court, "casts substantial doubt on the overall reliability of the allegations made."
The Prosecutor originally alleged that: "An interpreter with the Defence team was identified by a prosecution witness as Rwandan national and a former member of the Interahamwe (Hutu militia), by the name of Joseph Biroto Nzabirinda". Nzabirinda is a defence investigator for the accused Sylvain Nsabimana. However, after Nsabimana's defence filed its response, the Prosecutor said she "withdraws the references to Joseph Biroto Nzabirinda. Since the filing of her Extremely Urgent Motion, she has new information that there was an error with regard to Nzabirinda".
Nsabimana's counsel Charles Tchakoute Patie of Cameroon had told the court this was not enough, saying the damage had already been done and that Nzabirinda was in fear for his life. He called for the court to impose sanctions on the Prosecutor.
The Chamber said it noted the prosecution's withdrawal of the allegations against Nzabirinda, but also that they "may since have been echoed in the Rwandese and international Media, as contended by Counsel for Nsabimana, thus possibly jeopardising the security, if not the life, of the concerned Defence investigator and thus possibly hampering the defence investigations".
"The Chamber further notes in this regard that, although acting in good faith so as to urgently act on possible threats to the security of her witnesses, the Prosecutor should have acted more diligently in avoiding disclosure to the public at large of the identity of the members of the Defence teams concerned, so as to avoid such an unfortunate situation as that of Nsabimana's investigator," say the judges. "The Chamber accordingly finds that the attitude of the Prosecution qualifies in this regard as "Misconduct of Counsel".
"The Chamber, having found the Prosecutor's Counsel to have conducted themselves improperly and recklessly in respect of the disclosure of the identity of Defence personnel allegedly in contempt of the Tribunal, consequently warns them in terms of Rule 46 (A) of the Rules to desist from such conduct, which is contrary to the interests of justice."
Defence satisfied
The court said it did not agree with the defence argument that all accused in the case or all their lawyers had suffered prejudice in terms of a possible breach of the principle of presumption of innocence or damage to their professional reputations. It said that the motion mentioned only defence team members for Kanyabashi and Nsabimana and that "only these counsel and their respective Accused could therefore have suffered prejudice, if any, from such allegations, in the way they were brought".
However, the court finds that this is not the case, especially as the allegations have been dismissed. "Indeed, the Judges of the Tribunal are professional jurists, capable of distinguishing between the issues at stake and those that are or will be alluded to at trial," says the Chamber.
Partially granting the Prosecutor's request for harmonization of witness protection measures for the six Butare accused, the court ordered that "the contact or communication with either prosecution or defence protected victims or witnesses, or their close family members (…) is subject to a written request to the Trial Chamber or a Judge thereof, on reasonable notice to the Prosecution or the concerned Defence. If leave is granted, and with the consent of the concerned protected person or his or her parents or guardian if that person is under the age of 18, the party on behalf of which the victim or the witness would testify at trial shall undertake the necessary arrangements to facilitate such contact."
"This is an excellent decision," Kanyabashi's lead counsel Michel Marchand told Hirondelle on the telephone from Canada. "The court has rejected all the allegations, because they are unfounded." He said the court had evaluated all the arguments set before it and that he was happy with the decision.
"The decision also includes an order on witness protection," Marchand continued., "but we are comfortable with that. Our aim is not to contact prosecution witnesses but to carry out investigations."
The case is before Trial Chamber Two of the ICTR, composed of Judges William Hussein Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho.
JC/FH (BT_0713e)
*JULY 12th, 2001
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ICTR/KAJELIJELI
FORMER MAYOR ORDERED AND PRESIDED OVER KILLINGS, SAYS WITNESS
Arusha, July 12th, 2001 (FH) - Former Rwandan mayor Juvénal Kajelijeli ordered and presided over killings in his home area during the 1994 genocide, a witness told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Thursday.
Kajelijeli was mayor of Mukingo, in the northwest Rwandan region of Ruhengeri, during the 1994 genocide. An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during the genocide in Rwanda. Kajelijeli is charged with eleven counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Protected witness 'GBG' testified that among the people killed on Kajelijeli's orders were his six siblings, his parents and several other families. The killings, he said, were carried out at a family friend's home where the families had taken refuge.
"We were attacked by these young people. The young people came in Kajelijeli's company," GBG told the court. "Once they got to the place (…), Kajelijeli shot and killed a man called Kateteyi."
"Once he had killed him," said the witness, " the young people immediately attacked us." The witness said that he knew of only three people who had survived this attack.
GBG also said that Kajelijeli, in the company of another ICTR detainee Joseph Nzirorera (Secretary General of the then ruling party MRND), distributed Interahamwe millitia uniforms at a meeting where they called for the killing of all Ibyitso (accomplices). He added that all Tutsis at the time were referred to as Ibyitso.
Defence could not cross-examine the witness immediately after the testimony in chief, as they said they needed more time to prepare. Prosecution brought GBG after the initially planned witness failed to appear due to illness. Defence will cross-examine GBG on Monday.
The case is before Trial Chamber Two of the ICTR, composed of Judge William Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho.
GG/MBR/FH (KJ_0712e)
* JULY 12th, 2001
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ICTR/ ARRESTS
RWANDA TRIBUNAL MAKES THREE MORE ARRESTS IN EUROPE
Arusha, July 12th, 2001 (FH) - A former finance minister, a catholic military chaplain and a musician were on Thursday arrested in three European countries on arrest warrants from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), official sources confirmed. All three face genocide charges.
Former minister Emmanuel Ndindagahizi was arrested in Belgium, according to ICTR spokesman Kingsley Moghalu. Ndindagahizi was Minister of Finance in the Rwandan interim government in place during the 1994 genocide. Charges against him include genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, extermination and murder as crimes against humanity.
Musician Simon Bikindi was arrested in the Netherlands. Bikindi was a well-known composer and singer whose songs were used during the war and genocide, notably on "hate radio" Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM). He is charged with conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide or alternatively complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, murder and persecution as crimes against humanity.
Emmanuel Rukundo was arrested in Switzerland. At the time of the genocide in Rwanda, he was a military chaplain in Ruhengeri prefecture, northwest Rwanda and then transferred to the capital Kigali. He is charged with genocide or, alternatively, complicity in genocide; murder and extermination as crimes against humanity.
ICTR spokesman Moghalu said these arrests were "very important developments" in the work of the Tribunal and "another sign of the effective cooperation that we are receiving from states". He said he hoped the three would be transferred to the UN prison in Arusha as soon as possible.
Moghalu also said the arrests showed that the ICTR had a "thematic and geographic strategy" to its indictments. It has arrested alleged planners, financiers and supporters of the genocide, he said, "and now we have added a musician".
Rukundo is also the first catholic cleric to be arrested by the Tribunal. It has already in its custody a Seventh Day Adventist Pastor, due to go on trial shortly, and an Anglican bishop. Moghalu could not say whether any of the accused arrested Thursday might be joined to other accused for trial.
JC/MBR/FH (AR_0712e)
*JULY 10th, 2001
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ICTR/MEDIA
MEDIA TRIAL ADJOURNED UNTIL AUGUST 20TH
Arusha, July 10th 2001 (FH) - The Media Trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was on Tuesday adjourned until August 20th, after the judicial recess.
This trial groups three suspects accused of having used the media to incite killings during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The three are: former director of Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) Ferdinand Nahimana; former editor of "Kangura" newspaper Hassan Ngeze; and former politician and RTLM board member Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza.
The Media Trial started on October 23rd, 2000. It adjourned after the hearing of the 26th witness for the prosecution. The next witness is expected to be Italo-Belgian former RTLM presenter Georges Ruggiu, who pleaded guilty before the ICTR and was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment.
Before adjournment, the court dismissed a prosecution motion to add a new witness to its list. Prosecutor Steven Rapp of the US had asked that a European journalist who was in Rwanda at the time of the genocide be added to the list of prosecution witnesses, to replace two other witnesses who would not be testifying.
The defence objected, on the grounds that this was unfair. Ngeze's American lawyer John Floyd asked when the prosecution would stop changing its list of witnesses and making the same old excuses, while Nahimana's British co-counsel Diana Ellis said that the prosecution was not telling the court the real situation.
Only Nahimana is still attending the trial regularly. Barayagwiza has boycotted it from the start, saying that the ICTR is manipulated by the current Kigali government and that the trial will therefore not be fair. Ngeze says he is boycotting as of last Monday over a conflict with his lawyers.
This case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of Judges Navanethem Pillay of South Africa, Erik Mose of Norway and Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana of Sri Lanka.
GG/JC/PHD/FH (ME_0710E)
*JULY 9th, 2001
ICTR/MEDIA
RADIO CAUSED DEATHS, SAYS WITNESS
Arusha, July 9th, 2001 (FH) - A prosecution witness told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Monday that many civilians had been killed in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide after they were denounced by radio RTLM.
Witness 'FY', named as such to protect his identity, is testifying in the so-called Media Trial which groups former director of Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) Ferdinand Nahimana, former politician and RTLM board member Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, and former editor of "Kangura" newspaper Hassan Ngeze.
According to FY, people targeted by RTLM broadcasts included his landlord Daniel Kabaka, a medical doctor named Boyi Straton, a builder
named Kahabaye and Claire Maziyateke, a Tutsi with Belgian nationality. He said the first three were killed after RTLM wrongly denounced them as accomplices of the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF rebels now in power in Kigali). Claire Maziyateke survived, he said, and is still alive.
He said that he had only mentioned his neighbours but that there were many more Tutsis and Hutu opponents to the then regime who were killed in similar circumstances. FY told the court that Tutsis of relatively high social standing were particularly targeted.
Defence lawyers for Ngeze and Nahimana sought to demonstrate that the four people mentioned could in fact have been accomplices of the RPF. Co-counsel for Nahimana Diana Ellis of the UK asked FY why several Tutsis of high social standing had not been killed during the genocide. "These are people who had protection from strong personalities," FY replied. His cross-examination continues Tuesday.
This case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of Judges Navanethem Pillay of South Africa (presiding), Erik Mose of Norway and Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana of Sri Lanka.
GG/JC/PHD/FH (ME_0709F)
*JULY 10th, 2001
ICTR/KAJELIJELI
LAWYER SAYS KIGALI IS DESTABILIZING THE DEFENCE
Arusha, July 9th, 2001 (FH) - The Rwandan government is destabilizing the defence by intimidating its investigators, a lawyer at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) said on Monday.
Lennox Hinds, American counsel for former Rwandan mayor Juvénal Kajelijeli, was speaking after one of his investigators refused to come to the ICTR for fear of the Kigali authorities. Rwanda's representative to the ICTR Martin Ngoga strongly denied the allegations.
"My concern is that I have a defence team, we are in the middle of a trial," said Hinds, "and what they (Rwandan authorities) are doing is illegal, unjust, unfair and designed to harass, intimidate and unduly influence the outcome of the trial."
Kajelijeli's trial started on July 4th. Hinds said one of his investigators, Augustin Basebya, had been working in Europe and that he (Hinds) had asked the team to be present in Arusha for the start of trial. When Basebya did not come, he said he wanted to know why. He received a letter from the investigator which he said had "shocked and surprised" him.
In the letter, which was read out in court on Monday, Basebya says that certain defence team members are "currently undergoing a type of incarceration and intimidation in Arusha". The investigator is an exiled former member of the Rwandan parliament and is on the Kigali government's Category One list of top genocide suspects.
Basebya says he is a victim of "monstrous slander and of flagrant injustice" and that the Category One list "has become an instrument to persecute ethnic Hutu or ethnic Tutsi who are opposed to the totalitarian regime in Kigali". He also writes that the current Rwandan government "seems determined to condemn people without first bringing an indictment against them".
Hinds pointed the finger particularly at Rwanda's representative to the ICTR Martin Ngoga. "Information that I have," the lawyer told Hirondelle, "is that he is the individual who is indicating the roles that might be played by particular individuals from Rwanda. And in this particular instance, Mr. Basebya was very critical in getting evidence of the illegal arrest of Mr. Kajelijeli."
Basebya has said that he could continue working for Kajelijeli's defence while Hinds replaces him, but only in Europe. He says that he will only come to Arusha if his name is cleared. "He is critical to the defence," Hinds told Hirondelle, "at least with respect to witnesses who are in Europe. He is saying that he cannot continue to function, he cannot come here to Arusha and he has said very clearly in his letter that he would not be able to perform his duties and responsibilities because he is feeling intimidated. And it's affecting us right now."
Hinds has already brought the matter to the attention of the court. "You heard what the judge said in open court, that they have taken notice of this," he told Hirondelle. "But based upon what we have, there isn't anything that the court can do beyond taking notice of this. I think that anyone who is interested in fairness and in justice, all individuals who want fairness ought to be outraged and challenge the régime in Kigali to stop this."
Kigali denies
"It is not true that we are harassing the investigators," Rwanda's representative Ngoga told Hirondelle, "because we know how important they are to a fair trial. Also, absolutely no evidence has been produced to support these allegations."
However, Ngoga said that investigators should not be allowed to use their status to avoid punishment if they were guilty. "It is not just a rumour that there are genocide suspects among the investigators," he continued, "because the Tribunal itself has already arrested one."
On May 19th, the ICTR arrested Siméon Nshamihigo, who had been working as a Tribunal defence investigator under a false name, within the premises of the ICTR. Nshamihigo has been charged with three counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
In April, Ngoga told the press that three ICTR investigators were on Kigali's Category One list of top genocide suspects. "If we raised that problem," Ngoga told Hirondelle, "we were acting according to our moral obligations."
Asked about the accusation that Kigali was accusing people without an indictment, Ngoga replied that the government's lists of suspects were "drawn up according to the law. Everyone who is on the list has a file and an indictment. And nobody is saying that everyone on that list should be convicted. When someone is accused, they may be convicted or acquitted. Even the ICTR recently acquitted an accused (former Rwandan mayor Ignace Bagilishema)."
Kajelijeli's case is before Trial Chamber Two, composed of Judge William Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho.
BN/JC/PHD/FH (0710E)
* JULY 9th, 2001
_____________________________________
ICTR/MEDIA
NGEZE ANNOUNCES COURT BOYCOTT OVER LAWYERS
Arusha, July 9th 2001 (FH) - Genocide suspect Hassan Ngeze says he is boycotting his trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) over the court's refusal to replace his lawyers. Ngeze was absent from court on Monday.
"If the Tribunal does not assign a duty counsel to my defence, and my investigators and assistants are not reinstalled to work with me, there will be no interest for me to attend the trial any more as from this Monday
9th July 2001," Ngeze wrote in a letter to ICTR President Navanethem Pillay on Saturday.
Ngeze is former editor of the "Kangura" newspaper. He is on trial with two other suspects linked to "hate media" that incited Hutus to kill Tutsis during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The other accused are Ferdinand
Nahimana, former director of Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM); and Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, a former politician and RTLM board member. Barayagwiza has been boycotting the trial since it started last October 23rd, saying it will not be fair because the ICTR is manipulated by the current Kigali government.
Ngeze says he has lost confidence in his current lawyers John Floyd of the US and René Martel of Canada. In his letter to Judge Pillay, he says that "the dispute I have with the lawyers assigned to my defence is basically about my investigators and assistants they dismissed without prior consultation with me at the most critical time of my trial".
The court turned down his earlier request that he be assigned new lawyers by the ICTR. In April he responded that he was renouncing his indigent status and wanted to pay for new lawyers with the help of "friends". Ngeze
said he wanted André Gagnier of Canada and Ngata Kamau of Kenya as his new counsel.
Last month, Judge Pillay, who is also presiding judge in the trial, told him that the ICTR Registry had written to these lawyers, but that Gagnier had refused and Kamau had not replied. However, she told him: "You are free
to call the counsels you want."
This case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of Judges Pillay, Erik Mose of Norway and Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana of Sri Lanka. Ngeze's boycott comes after another court, Trial Chamber Two, granted the request of ICTR detainee Arsène Shalom Ntahobali to have his lawyers dismissed on the grounds that he had lost confidence in them. The court ordered the ICTR Registry to assign Ntahobali new lawyers, and to give him a duty counsel in the meantime.
"I request the Tribunal to give me the same treatment as Shalom Arsène Ntahobari to be assisted by a duty Counsel while awaiting the final solution," says Ngeze in his July 7th letter to the ICTR President. "If this is done, it will allow the procedure to continue its normal course. The Tribunal will have full authority to select the duty Counsel."
His counsel John Floyd of the US told the court on Monday that he had noted the absence of his client but had not received any correspondence from him regarding the boycott.
GG/JC/FH (ME_0709e)
* JULY 5th, 2001
________________________________________
ICTR/ MEDIA
COURT SAYS PROSECUTION DID NOT INTIMIDATE DEFENCE WITNESSES
Arusha, July 5th, 2001 (FH) - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Thursday rejected a motion from genocide suspect Ferdinand Nahimana which claimed that prosecution used third parties to contact protected defence witnesses in an intimidating way.
Nahimana's French defence counsel Jean-Marie Biju-Duval had argued that prosecution broke a court order when it asked the Belgian Ministry of Justice to contact two defence witnesses. Belgian investigating magistrate Damien Vandermeersch subsequently summoned and questioned the witnesses. Nahimana's defence team was not informed.
However, the ICTR's Trial Chamber One ruled that these two witnesses were not covered by a witness protection order and that the prosecution was merely fulfilling its duty to investigate alibi witnesses presented by the defence.
The court nevertheless said it was clear that any contact with the other party's protected witnesses must be made in conformity with court protection orders. It advised them to exercise judicious professional discretion and follow the established procedure of obtaining the other party's consent before contacting such witnesses. The court said this would avoid any suspicion of interference or dishonest intentions and ensure that justice was being seen to be done.
Nahimana was director of Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), which incited Hutus to kill Tutsis during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. He is co-accused with two other people accused of using the media to fuel the 1994 genocide in Rwanda: former politician and RTLM board Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza and former "Kangura" newspaper editor Hassan Ngeze.
On Thursday the court finished hearing the testimony of the 25th prosecution witness. The case is expected to resume on Monday with a new witness.
AT/JC/PHD/FH (ME_0705E )
JULY 6th, 2001
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ICTR/ PROSECUTION
RWANDA TRIBUNAL PROMOTING RECONCILIATION, SAYS MUNA
Arusha, July 6th, 2001 (FH) - Judgements at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will motivate the people of Rwanda to seek reconciliation, former Deputy Prosecutor Bernard Muna of Cameroon said on Thursday.
"I know that judgments made will help to curb feelings in Rwanda," Muna told a farewell function for him, organized by the Cameroonian community at the ICTR. But he also said that the people of Rwanda must sit together to work towards reconciliation, as the efforts to reach justice should start with within. Muna was the head of the ICTR's Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) in the Rwandan capital Kigali for four years.
Muna told the gathering, which included Tribunal judges, that the ICTR was doing a wonderful job and making people worldwide say that atrocities and abuse of human rights should not be allowed to continue.
"The price we will pay if we allow conflict to dominate will be too high in terms of human life," he said. "We have to keep working and make it a success so that the weak can know that one day justice will prevail all over Africa and all over the world."
"For the first time," Muna continued, "we are all saying collectively that if you do this to a human being, we will do this to you. It is having an effect, it is not just noise. I will be steadfast in supporting the ICTR, I will be your ambassador wherever I go," he told the gathering.
Muna said that it was not fair for critics to compare the output of the ICTR with that of other international courts (notably the UN's other ad hoc tribunal, the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia) without also comparing the working conditions and environments of the personnel. "The pioneer's job is never easy," said Muna. "You never reach perfection but that is the beauty, you keep trying."
ICTR Registrar Adama Dieng of Senegal said that Muna had left his post with no regret, no despair. Dieng said he had known Muna for more than 25 years as a man who sought justice, particularly social justice for the masses in the rural areas. "I can tell you he will always continue to bring his services to this Tribunal," Dieng said.
ICTR President Navanethem Pillay of South Africa said Muna had promised to continue supporting the work of the ICTR. "If it had not been for Muna we wouldn't have made progress on the cases we did. He made history on these," she said.
Chief of Prosecutions Ken Fleming of Australia, representing the Office of the Prosecutor, described Muna as a magnanimous man with a huge charisma and deep compassion for the African continent.
Muna left the ICTR last May after serving the Tribunal for four years. He resigned by mutual agreement with ICTR Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte of Switzerland, who has been trying to improve recruitment and efficiency in her office. Former Registrar Okali and Muna have been blamed for retaining a number of staff who were not performing. Muna has not yet been replaced.
SW/JC/PHD/FH (ICTR_0706E)
* JULY 6th, 2001
ICTR/ MEDIA
UN PROSECUTORS TARGET EXILED RWANDAN MUSICIAN
Arusha, July 6th, 2001(FH) - International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) prosecutors targeted in court the musician Simon Bikindi, whose songs were broadcast regularly on "hate-radio" RTLM during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Bikindi is in exile in the Netherlands.
On Thursday, Kenyan prosecutor Charity Kagwi questioned a prosecution witness in the so-called Media Trial on the role of Bikindi's songs in the genocide, but obtained only mitigated answers. Protected witness "SA" said only that Bikindi's songs referred to Rwanda's history of antagonism between Hutus and Tutsis, or boosted the morale of soldiers in the former army when they were fighting guerrillas of the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF, now in power in Kigali). SA was a technician at state-run Radio Rwanda in 1994.
The witness told the court that Bikindi's songs were still sold in record shops in Rwanda and listened to in bars. He said, for example, that they were often played in his favourite bar in Kigali, and that he would continue going to that bar when he returned from Arusha.
"People listen to these songs to remember history," said SA, who testified in the Rwandan language, Kinyarwanda. He added that the music was compelling, unlike artists such as Michael Jackson.
Observers suggest that the allusions to Simon Bikindi during the trial may not be gratuitous and that the prosecution could be "preparing something against him". Prosecution investigations are kept secret until an indictment has been made public.
Asylum seeker
Simon Bikindi worked at the Rwandan Ministry of Youth and Sports up to 1994, and composed a folk ballet. He is currently in exile in the Netherlands, where he has asked for political asylum. In a recent interview with French television channel France 2, Bikindi protested his innocence, saying that if he were to be accused of involvement in the genocide, he was prepared to defend himself.
In their book "Rwanda, the media of genocide", French researcher Jean-Pierre Chrétien and his co-authors say of Bikindi's songs: "Here we find a typical case of using the past for political purposes and manipulating history to create an ideology, which is the dogma of the three ethnic groups condemned to perpetual enmity. This is a way to justify defending the 'priority interests of the majority'." The book's authors describe Bikindi's songs as propaganda for rousing the Hutu population to action, which "echoed the activities of the racist media and of the militias".
"Leave None to Tell the Story", a work on the Rwandan genocide published by Human Rights Watch and the International Federation of Human Rights, says RTLM repeated endlessly a Bikindi refrain about the importance and benefits of the 1959 Hutu revolution. "Bikindi," says the book, "sang that the revolution should be preserved, 'especially by we who have benefited from it', a reminder that should the Tutsi win, they would not just reverse all the political changes of the revolution but also reclaim all the property that had once been theirs, leaving many Hutu destitute. This argument carried great weight with cultivators who were working lands received after the expulsion of the Tutsi and who feared above all being reduced to landless laborers."
The book also notes that during the genocide: "At most barriers there was a radio where the guards stayed tuned to RTLM during their long hours of keeping watch. And when patrols went out to kill, they went off singing the songs heard on RTLM, such as those of the popular Simon Bikindi."
The Media Trial groups former director of RTLM Ferdinand Nahimana, former politician and RTLM board member Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza and former "Kangura" newspaper editor Hassan Ngeze.
Barayagwiza's lawyer Alfred Pognon from Benin said that in wartime, it was normal that a singer should "whip up the morale of the army".
AT/JC/FH (ME_0706E )
JULY 5th, 2001
ICTR/ KAJELIJELI
KAJELIJELI WAS A POWERFUL POLITICAL FIGURE, SAYS WITNESS
Arusha, July 5th 2001 (FH) - Former Rwandan mayor and genocide suspect Juvénal Kajelijeli was a powerful political figure whose influence reduced the local administrative leaders to figureheads, the first prosecution witness in Kajelijeli's trial told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Thursday.
Protected witness "GBV", a Tutsi who managed to pass as a Hutu during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, said that Kajelijeli had since 1991 been a powerful member of the former presidential party MRND in Ruhengeri, northwest Rwanda. He said that he knew Kajelijeli from 1974 when the former mayor was a carpenter working for priests in Mukingo commune.
According to GBV, Kajelijeli told villagers in his home area that they had to fight the "inyenzi" [derogatory word for Tutsi] and that people should not join any party other than the MRND. "Kajelijeli was the real power holder," GBV told the court. Kajelijeli was mayor of Mukingo between 1988 and 1993 when he left office. He was re-elected on June 26th, 1994.
The witness told the court that soon after the death of former President Juvénal Habyarimana on April 6th 1994, Kajelijeli met with militia and immediately a man, referred to as Rukara, was killed. GBV told the court he saw the accused driving a truck with more than 20 Interahamwe militia on board, and that he also witnessed the killing of a woman in April 1994 by militia in Mukingo commune.
Defence counsel Lennox Hinds of the US asked the witness during cross-examination about discrepancies between his oral testimony and his written statement to UN investigators. GBV had not mentioned Rukara's death in his statement, Hinds pointed out. The witness told the court he forgot to mention this incident to the investigators.
The witness told the Chamber that Kajelijeli was a close associate of former Rwandan National Assembly president Joseph Nzirorera, who is also in ICTR custody. GBV added that Kajelijeli was present during MRND meetings addressed by Nzirorera. "It was customary to see Nzirorera with Kajelijeli," said GBV.
Defence lawyer Hinds had previously asked that Nzirorera's name be struck from the record, because his client was not being tried with Nzirorera. The court threw out his motion. Hinds maintains that Kajelijeli was mayor for only for three weeks during the events of 1994 and that he should not be treated as "guilty by association" with Nzirorera.
Kajelijeli is charged with eleven counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Conventions (war crimes). The witness finished his testimony late Thursday afternoon.
The case is before Trial Chamber Two of the ICTR, composed of Judge William Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho.
SW/JC/PHD/FH (KJ_0705e)
* JULY 4th, 2001
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ICTR/ KAJELIJELI
KAJELIJELI WAS WRONGFULLY ARRESTED, SAYS DEFENCE
Arusha, July 4th, 2001 (FH) - Former Rwandan mayor and genocide suspect Juvénal Kajelijeli was a "side kick and a man the prosecution had not issued a warrant of arrest for," his defence lawyer maintained in an opening statement to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Wednesday.
Defence counsel Lennox Hinds of the US told the ICTR’s Trial Chamber Two that Kajelijeli had been arrested just because he happened to be in the house of a suspect for whom a warrant had been issued. He was referring to another ICTR detainee, former President of the National Assembly in Rwanda, Joseph Nzirorera.
Hinds was speaking as the trial of the former mayor finally restarted before the recomposed court, after being postponed twice on Monday and Tuesday.
At the time of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Kajelijeli was mayor of Mukingo, in the northwest Rwandan prefecture of Ruhengeri. He is charged with eleven counts including genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and serious violations of the Geneva Conventions (war crimes).
Hinds told the court that Kajelijeli was mayor for only three weeks during the 1994 events and that the prosecution had alleged his guilt by association. He added that Kajelijeli fled the country, as did other refugees, to the Congo, Congo Brazzaville and finally to Benin.
"A set of unfortunate circumstances evolved that led us to this place (the Tribunal)," said Hinds. The lawyer told the court that Kajelijeli was living in the house of a friend, Nzirorera, and when Nzirorera was being arrested, his client was arrested too.
"Prosecution admits they had no warrant, they didn't even know who he was. Guilt by association is not the standard of this Tribunal,” said Hinds, “Being in the home of a suspect at the time of his arrest is not the standard."
Hinds claimed that after arresting Kajelijeli, the prosecution had to find a reason to hold him and that is why none of the witnesses had been interviewed before Kajelijeli's arrest. He stressed that none of the 15 prosecution witnesses scheduled to testify made any statements before Kajelijeli's arrest in 1998. All statements were made at least 30 days after his arrest, said Hinds.
"It is apparently clear that prosecution had no information on him except for what they had when they swept across Africa making arrests of suspects," said Hinds. "He was at the wrong place at the wrong time," he added.
"We are all of us involved in a whole new area of jurisprudence and the whole world is watching us. We must never forget that the record on which we judge these defendants is the record on which history will judge us," said Hinds. "To pass this defendant a poison chalice is to put it on our lips."
"Prosecution misled authorities in Benin, misled the Trial Chamber and passed Kajelijeli the poison chalice," Hinds told the court.
SW/JC/MBR/FH (KJ_0704f)
* JULY 4th, 2001
___________________________________________________________________
ICTR/ KAJELIJELI
TRIAL OF FORMER RWANDAN MAYOR RESTARTS
Arusha, July 4th, 2001 (FH) - The trial of former Rwandan mayor Juvénal Kajelijeli finally restarted on Wednesday before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), with prosecutor Kenneth Fleming of Australia describing the accused as someone who "had untold power in a small part of Rwanda and ran rampant with that power", destroying many lives. Prosecution plans to bring fifteen witnesses to back eleven charges against Kajelijeli of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
"Mr. Kajelijeli is before this Tribunal because the crimes with which he is charged are of such gravity and appalling dimension that he ought to be before a tribunal of this sort," Fleming told the court in his opening statement. The prosecutor said these were "charges which transcend the interests of a particular group or nation. They extract from the whole international community a sense of outrage. They are of such gravity that the world says this is an issue that belongs to the whole human race".
Fleming said the ICTR was part of a "new era" of international justice, along with the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. "Perhaps the procedure sometimes seems slow and expensive," Fleming continued, but he urged patience in the pursuit of
developing that international justice. He also promised that in Kajelijeli's trial: "We will endeavour to present no evidence that has no probative value. Your Honours will have a trial which will proceed in the most efficient manner possible."
This is the second time Fleming has made an opening statement in the case. The trial was officially started in March this year, but was postponed after the opening statement and the testimony of one witness. Since then, Trial Chamber Two which is hearing the case has been recomposed with two new judges. On Monday the parties agreed to start proceedings again, but were unable to start immediately because of defence team problems.
At the time of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Kajelijeli was mayor of Mukingo, in the northwest Rwandan prefecture of Ruhengeri. The charges against him include genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and serious violations of the Geneva Conventions (war crimes).
Fleming told the judges that "within 12 hours" of the shooting down of former president Juvénal Habyarimana's 'plane on April 6th, Kajelijeli "had his troops mobilized", telling them to exterminate the Tutsis and to "go home and get your uniforms, we have work to do". The killings started
immediately, Fleming said.
He said that in the days that followed, Kajelijeli distributed arms and supervised roadblocks to make sure that the "work" of killing Tutsis was being done efficiently. Fleming alleged that Kajelijeli was able to mobilize large numbers of Interahamwe militia. Witnesses would testify, he said, that after receiving Kajelijeli's orders, the Interahamwe would go off singing "let's exterminate them, let's exterminate them".
On the conspiracy charge, Fleming said the prosecution would prove beyond reasonable doubt that Kajelijeli was the right-hand man of Joseph Nzirorera, Secretary-General of the former presidential party MRND, and that Kajelijeli conspired with Nzirorera and others to commit genocide.
Kajelijeli is also charged with rape, both as a crime against humanity and as a war crime. Fleming told the court one mother had testified that she and her children were hiding from the Interahamwe when she heard Kajelijeli order the militiamen to "search for the girls, rape them and kill them afterwards". He said she would testify that she saw her fifteen-year-old daughter being raped by Interahamwe. Fleming quoted the mother as having testified that "when they were raping my daughter, she cried out for help. Maybe that is why the other group [of Interhamwe] found us".
The case is before Trial Chamber Two, composed of Judge William Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho.
JC/MBR/FH (KJ_0704e)
* JULY 4th, 2001
___________________________________________________________________
ICTR / MEDIA
PROSECUTION BRINGS TWENTY-FIFTH WITNESS
Arusha, July 4th, 2001 (FH) - The trial of three suspects accused of using the media to fuel Rwanda's 1994 genocide resumed on Wednesday with the testimony of the 25th prosecution witness. This comes after several recent adjournments after prosecution witness either refused or were unable to testify at the last moment.
The witness, dubbed "SA" to protect his identity, was a technician at Radio Rwanda when one of the accused, Ferdinand Nahimana, was its director from the end of 1990 to the beginning of 1992. SA told the court that his former boss had discriminated against Tutsis at the workplace For example, the witness cited three Tutsis whom he said Nahimana had fired. He said a fellow technician in charge of a travelling studio was also transferred to another post because he was Tutsi.
After leaving the state media body ORINFOR, which manages Radio Rwanda, Nahimana became one of the promoters of Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM). The witness claimed that RTLM was installed by two technicians from Radio Rwanda, who were his friends. He said he had learned this from them in a discussion about the technical difficulties they encountered.
"SA" told the court that RTLM had a 100-watt transmitter which could reach the whole of the capital Kigali, part of Bugesera (south of Kigali) and part of Kibungo to the east. He said RTLM also had a less powerful transmitter installed on Mount Muhe (western Rwanda) which allowed broadcast to parts of Ruhengeri, Gisenyi, Gitarama and Kibuye.
The Prosecutor aims to show that RTLM incited Hutus to genocide against the Tutsi minority in 1994. Nahimana is jointly accused with former politician and RTLM board member Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza and former "Kangura" newspaper editor Hassan Ngeze.
AT/JC/MBR/FH (ME_0704E)
* JULY 3rd, 2001
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ICTR/ KAJELIJELI
KAJELIJELI TRIAL ADJOURNED YET AGAIN
Arusha, July 3rd 2001 (FH) - The restart of the trial of former Rwandan mayor Juvénal Kajelijeli was postponed yet again, on Tuesday, at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
On Monday, Kajelijeli's American defence counsel Lennox Hinds told the court he had problems communicating with his French-speaking client and his co-counsel, because their bilingual investigator was held up in Zimbabwe with visa problems. The court granted the lawyer's request for 24 hours within which he would try to resolve the problem.
On Tuesday, he told the court that he had found "someone to help with translation". "That person is agreeable with my client, who trusts that confidentiality will be ensured," Hinds continued. He said that the defence would be able to proceed with the case Wednesday morning. The court granted an adjournment but stressed that "trial will have to start tomorrow (Wednesday)".
Kajelijeli was mayor of Mukingo, in the northwest Rwandan prefecture of Ruhengeri, during the 1994 genocide. He is charged with eleven counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The trial started on March 13th this year but has to be restarted because the Trial Chamber has been recomposed after the death in May of former presiding judge Laity Kama of Senegal and the appointment of two new judges to the ICTR.
The recomposed Trial Chamber Two, hearing the case, is composed of Judge William Sekule of Tanzania (presiding) and new judges Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho.
Hinds asked that the Chamber grant a status conference to discuss various matters. He said he had been granted sabbatical leave to deal with the case "in six months" and did not want to "come to Arusha in July only to have to come back in September".
But lead prosecuting attorney Ken Fleming of Australia said that Hinds was being "very presumptuous". "At no time has it been said by this Trial Chamber that the case would start and run through," he added. Kajelijeli's case is due to alternate with two others before Trial Chamber Two.
Fleming said the court had granted Hinds requests at his convenience but that he (Hinds) was not considering that the Chamber had other business. "There seems not be any sign from my learned friend (Hinds) to commence this trial," said Fleming. Hinds, however, maintained that "my interest is in moving forward this case".
Presiding Judge Sekule advised the parties to prepare for a status conference for Friday and adjourned the proceedings to Wednesday morning when the trial is expected to start.
SW/MBR/FH (KJ_0703e)
* JULY 2nd, 2001
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ICTR/ MEDIA
TRIAL ADJOURNED TO WEDNESDAY FOR LACK OF PROSECUTION WITNESSES
Arusha, July 2nd, 2001 (FH) - The trial of three genocide suspects linked to "hate media" in Rwanda was Monday adjourned for two days, owing to lack of prosecution witnesses.
Prosecutor Steven Rapp of the US told the court that the witness scheduled for Monday was not yet ready, and asked that proceedings be adjourned. Presiding judge Navanethem Pillay of South Africa said the Chamber was "disappointed" that the prosecution had not managed to bring a witness in time, but said it also understood the prosecution's problems.
Rapp told the court that the prosecution had lost contact with some witnesses because of insecurity in the northwest of Rwanda. Some witnesses would not testify, he said, because they had declined to do so or because they had not remained consistent with their initial statements to investigators. He stressed that witnesses could not be forced to appear against their will.
Last week, one scheduled witness in this case refused to testify at the last minute, while another was said to have chronic mental problems, including loss of memory. The prosecution therefore decided, even after the witness's arrival in Arusha, not to put her on the stand.
The trial groups three suspects linked to media which incited Hutus to kill Tutsis during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. They are former RTLM radio director Ferdinand Nahimana, former politician and RTLM board member Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza and former editor of Kangura newspaper Hassan Ngeze.
When the case opened last October 23rd, prosecution said they would bring 97 witnesses. However, it seems that many of them are no longer available. Witnesses expected to testify include Italo-Belgian former RTLM presenter Georges Ruggiu, whom the ICTR last year sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment after he pleaded guilty. Also expected is another ICTR convict who pleaded guilty, former militiaman Omar Serushago. Serushago was militia leader in the northwest Rwandan prefecture of Gisenyi, home area of Ngeze.
The prosecution is also expected to call several people being held in Rwandan jails on genocide charges. It is not clear whether these will include former RTLM presenter Valérie Bemeriki, who is in Kigali prison.
Defence lawyers for the accused have expressed concern about continual changes to the list of prosecution witnesses, saying that this is prejudicial to their clients. Nahimana's French lawyer Jean-Marie Biju-Duval also complained about late communication of witness statements to the defence, asking the court to impose sanctions. One of the sanctions, he argued, would be to have the statements thrown out.
The case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, comprising Judges Navanethem Pillay of South Africa (presiding), Erik Mose of Norway and Asoka De Zoysa Gunawardana of Sri Lanka.
AT/JC/MBR/FH (ME_0702e)
* JULY 2nd, 2001
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ICTR/ KAJELIJELI
KAJELIJELI TRIAL TO RESTART TUESDAY
Arusha, July 2nd 2001 (FH) - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has postponed until Tuesday the restart of trial of former Rwandan mayor Juvénal Kajelijeli, after Kajelijeli's defence lawyer claimed to have communication problems with his client. Defence counsel Lennox Hinds of the US said he could only communicate with his francophone client and with his co-counsel through their defence investigator, who had been held up in Harare, Zimbabwe, with visa problems.
Hinds said he had only just learned of this, and asked for "twenty-four hours within which to advise this court how we could resolve the matter". Presiding judge William Sekule of Tanzania said the court agreed to adjourn until Tuesday morning and "from there we will see how we move".
The trial started on March 13th this year, with the Prosecutor's opening statement and the testimony of one expert witness, ICTR investigator Antonius Maria Tony Lucassen of the Netherlands. However, the Trial Chamber has been recomposed after the death in May of former presiding judge Laity Kama of Senegal and the appointment of two new judges to the Tribunal. The recomposed Trial Chamber Two, hearing the case, is composed of Judge Sekule (presiding) and new judges Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho.
ICTR Rules require the consent of the accused if trial is to be continued after the replacement of a judge. Asked what the defence elected to do, Hinds replied that there were now two new judges who knew nothing about the case, that the trial had not proceeded very far and that "Mr Kajelijeli
believes it is in his best interests and in the interests of justice that this new Trial Chamber, as composed, should hear the case from the beginning".
Prosecutor Kenneth Fleming also expressed the view that this was the safest way to proceed, given the fact that the Chamber had not just one but two new judges. "The wisest precaution, given difficulties with the Rule, is to start again," said Fleming.
Kajelijeli was mayor of Mukingo, in the northwest Rwandan prefecture of Ruhengeri, during the 1994 genocide. He is charged with eleven counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
In his opening statement in March, Fleming said his team would bring fifteen witnesses to prove that the accused had played a leading role in killings in and around Mukingo. He said the witnesses would include a mother who had seen her 15-year-old daughter raped at Kajelijeli's command.
JC/MBR/FH (KJ_0702e) |