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JUDGE WILLIAMS RESIGNSBy Hirondelle News Agency Judge George Lloyd Williams of St. Kitts and Nevis, a judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), has resigned. This was confirmed last Thursday by the spokesman of the ICTR, Roland Amoussouga who said that Williams, 76, resigned "for personal reasons". Judge Williams was elected to the ICTR by the United Nations General Assembly in November 1998, and was re-elected in January 2003. This brings the number of Judges who have resigned to two. Judge Dionysios Kondylis (Greece), resigned for the "unforeseen family and personal reasons that had to do with previous professional commitments". The other to resign was the Pakistani Judge Ahmad Mansoor who resigned May 22, 2003 before he could be sworn in. Kondylis was replaced by Judge Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana of Sri Lanka, while Mansoor was replaced by her compatriot, Judge Rashid Khalida Khan. One of the key cases judge Williams worked on was the ongoing case against former top military officers of the former Rwandan army. Judge Williams was also on the bench of the former mayor of Bicumbi, Laurent Semanza who was found guilty on May 15, 2003 and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Judge Williams last case was the so called Cyangugu case where the former minister of transport in Rwanda Andre Ntagerura, and the former prefect of Cyangugu, Emmanuel Bagambiki were acquitted. The third accused, former military commander of Karambo military barracks in Cyangugu, Lieutenant Samuel Imanishimwe was sentenced to 27 years. In the case of Bagambiki, Judge Williams gave the only dissenting view in the judgement. It had been his opinion that Bagambiki had a case to answer.
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