Hirondelle News Agency
23 March 2011
American lawyer Peter Erlinder, the lead defence counsel for convict Major Aloys Ntabakuze is worried to travel to Tanzania to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for the appeal hearing of his client, allegedly because of threats on his life.
The appeal hearing occurs alongside two other former military officers on December 18, 2008 is scheduled to be conducted in Arusha, Tanzania at the Tribunal's seat between March 30 through April 1, 2011.
Backing the alleged safety threats for his lead counsel, Major Ntabakuze filed a motion before the Appeals Chamber seeking for his counsel to participate in the appeal hearing by video-conference but the Chamber denied the motion.
‘'The Appeals Chamber finds that Ntabakuze has failed to demonstrate that the grant of a video-conference is warranted in this case and that the request for Lead Counsel's appearance by way of video-conference should therefore be denied,'' reads part of the ruling.
‘'It recalls that failure by Counsel to appear before the Tribunal may be a ground for the imposition of sanctions or may constitute contempt of the Tribunal,'' warns the decision.
24 March, 2011
22 March, 2011
ORDINARY RWANDANS FEAR TESTIFYING AT ICTR FOR FEAR OF RWANDAN GOVERNMENT REPRISALS.
Hirondelle News Agency
21 March 2011
Chief investigator in the case of former Rwandan Minister of Youth Callixte Nzabonimana, Fernand Batard, Monday alleged before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that he could not easily get ordinary Rwandans neither in the country nor abroad to testify for the defendant for fear of reprisal by the authorities.
‘'I did not meet a single potential witness who did not express fear to testify for the genocide accused persons,''Batard, a retired French Lieutenant Colonel and lawyer told the Chamber during examination in-chief conducted by lead defence Counsel, Vincent Courcelle-Labrouse.
He said a three-man team of investigators under his control including himself and two Rwandan nationals could easily get cooperation with the would be defence witnesses from prisons but not from ordinary citizens whom were engulfed with fears.
‘'I met with one of the would be witnesses outside Gitarama town trying to persuade him testify for Nzabonimana but in less than 15 minutes, district authorities came to find out what was happening in the area,'' he narrated adding that the potential witness, code-named T22 later refused to testify for the accused for fear of reprisal.
The witness who also worked in Rwanda between 1986 and 1989 at a Training College of Gendarmerie National as an Instructor and Technical Advisor, explained that he faced same problems when recruiting witnesses from Rwandans living in Diaspora in Europe saying ‘'they feared their own Rwandan authorities and the authorities of the host countries for reprisal.''
‘'This deprived us and you, your honors, of information we needed to provide for the defence of our client,'' he said, insisting that even people who worked with Nzabonimana before, including the clergymen refused to cooperate with the defence team.
21 March 2011
Chief investigator in the case of former Rwandan Minister of Youth Callixte Nzabonimana, Fernand Batard, Monday alleged before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that he could not easily get ordinary Rwandans neither in the country nor abroad to testify for the defendant for fear of reprisal by the authorities.
‘'I did not meet a single potential witness who did not express fear to testify for the genocide accused persons,''Batard, a retired French Lieutenant Colonel and lawyer told the Chamber during examination in-chief conducted by lead defence Counsel, Vincent Courcelle-Labrouse.
He said a three-man team of investigators under his control including himself and two Rwandan nationals could easily get cooperation with the would be defence witnesses from prisons but not from ordinary citizens whom were engulfed with fears.
‘'I met with one of the would be witnesses outside Gitarama town trying to persuade him testify for Nzabonimana but in less than 15 minutes, district authorities came to find out what was happening in the area,'' he narrated adding that the potential witness, code-named T22 later refused to testify for the accused for fear of reprisal.
The witness who also worked in Rwanda between 1986 and 1989 at a Training College of Gendarmerie National as an Instructor and Technical Advisor, explained that he faced same problems when recruiting witnesses from Rwandans living in Diaspora in Europe saying ‘'they feared their own Rwandan authorities and the authorities of the host countries for reprisal.''
‘'This deprived us and you, your honors, of information we needed to provide for the defence of our client,'' he said, insisting that even people who worked with Nzabonimana before, including the clergymen refused to cooperate with the defence team.
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