The longest trial in the history of the ICTR
By Hirondelle News Agency
The so-called "Cyangugu trial", for which a verdict was rendered on Wednesday by
the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), is one of the joint
trials grouped according to geographic locations. This was a strategy adopted in
the early days by the tribunal.
The trial which began on September 18, 2000, groups together three former
officials accused of genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Cyangugu
(south-western Rwanda) in 1994.
The accused in the trial are the former minister of Transport and
communications, Andre Ntagerura, 54, the former Prefect of Cyangugu, Emmanuel
Bagambiki, 55 and the former commander of Karambo military barracks in Cyangugu,
43-year old Lieutenant Samuel Imanishimwe. All have pleaded not guilty.
The trial has been under deliberation since August 15, 2003. In 160 trial days,
over 126 witnesses for both the prosecution and the defence were called, setting
a record for the highest number of witnesses.
It took 35 months of arguments to see it through, making it the longest trial so
far conducted by the ICTR.
During the trial, the prosecution tried to prove that there was a regional-based
conspiracy, but the defence tested its first victory when the tribunal acquitted
Imanishimwe of the charge. This pushed the other accused to also file a motion
seeking an acquittal on conspiracy charges but the tribunal preferred to reserve
its ruling for the judgment.
The Cyangugu trial also made history by the nature of some of the allegations.
Apart from the now usual charges of massacres and torture, charges of
cannibalism were brought up. A prosecution witnesses alleged that on April 14,
Imanishimwe, in the company of Interahamwe militia, had eaten human flesh.
The Cyangugu trial was conducted in the former Trial Chamber Three presided over
by Judge George Llyod Williams of St. Kitts and Nevis, assisted by Judge Pavel
Dolenc of Slovenia, and Judge Yakov Ostrovsky form Russia.
Both Ostrovsky and Dolenc will no longer sit in the ICTR after Wednesday's
judgment. Dolenc was not re-elected while Ostrovsky is going into retirement.
The other geographically-based trial is that known as the Butare (southern
Rwanda) trial which groups together six people. Though it began in 2001, it is
still hearing prosecution evidence.
The prosecution had first toyed with the idea of a trial of that nature when it
tried to group eight people from Kibuye (western Rwanda). It finally abandoned
the idea and settled to a more modest trial when it failed to arrest the
majority of the suspects in time.
Created on November 8 1994 by the United Nations, the ICTR is mandated to try
persons accused of genocide and other violations of international humanitarian
law committed on the territory of Rwanda or neighbouring states between January
1 and 31, 1994.
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