Press Release
10 November 2011
After a one week postponement to allow the prosecutor's «witnesses»
to review the “cross-examination” of a pre-submitted questionnaire, the
show resumed today in Kigali Court. The judges are now pushing for a
speedy trial to wrap the case as soon as possible. This raises a
big question: Can Rwandan courts really handle international
criminal cases? According to the presiding judge and the
Prosecutors, cross-examination is not allowed in Rwanda.
The opposition party leader's
political trial continues to attract the attention of the public, media,
and key diplomats. His Excellency Ben Llewellyn-Jones, the British
High Commissioner and the Embassy's Political Affairs councillor spent some
time today following the debates in the courtroom.
Suspect Tharcisse
Nditurende responded to some defence questions relating to the charges of
Complicity in acts of terrorism (arts. 21(3°), 75 and 76, Law N° 45/2008 of
9/9/2008); Attempted attacks on the established powers and constitutional
principles by terrorism or armed force (arts. 164, 21, 22 and 24 of the Penal
Code, Law N° 21/1977 of 18/08/1977); recruitment into an armed force. The
trial will continue tomorrow.
Though he had a whole week and all the
necessary assistance to prepare his answers, he surprised the audience when
he confessed that he never knew the names used by his courier to Kinshasa, allegedly sent to meet with Madame Victoire Ingabire. This complicates the whole
tracking of their travel
data. Apart from their stories and a visibly made
up script there is no other evidence that the real witness KARUTA even travelled
to Kinshasa that time. The suspect stated he never received the oral
mission report and it was extremely dangerous to carry written
documents. He forgot that, immediately upon the arrest of Madame Victoire Ingabire, the prosecutor created the opinion that the
arrest was prompted by evidence found in a bunch of written documents
seized on suspect Vital
UWUMUREMYI when he was fleeing back to the
DRC.
According to Barrister Iain Edwards, the co-accused never met
the key defendant face-to-face during their adventures in the Congo. «Their
trips to Kinshasa or elsewhere, if they really occurred, have no direct link
to my client. Nothing shows they actually had an agenda to meet or do
any
business together».
Done in Kigali,
Boniface Twagirimana
Interim Vice
President
FDU-Inkingi
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