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Prosecution wants life jail for ex- senior official
The prosecutor requested on Monday life imprisonment for Callixte
Kalimanzira, a former senior Rwandan official on trial for genocide
before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), reports
Hirondelle Agency.
Kalimanzira, an agronomist by training, was, in 1994, Cabinet Director
at the Interior ministry, and was acting minister during the killings.
“The
prosecutor submits that Kalimanzira should be sentenced to imprisonment
for the remainder of his life”, stated Ousman Jammeh.
“He
voluntarily participated in the policy, mobilization of Hutus and
ordering road blocks where Tutsis were killed”, Jammeh alleged.
The
representative of the prosecutor claimed that the accused participated
in the execution of genocide, a tragedy which continues to shock the
consciousness of humanity.
“There are
no mitigating factors in this case”, he insisted, affirming that the
defendant had misused his influence in Butare prefecture (southern
Rwanda), where he originates from.
For his
part, the lead defence counsel, Arthur Vercken from the Bar of Paris,
urged the court to acquit the accused, whom he described as completely
innocent.
Vercken
affirmed that Kalimanzira did not have “any decisional capacity” in his
department in April and May, 1994 as claimed by the prosecution.
In the
absence of Minister Faustin Munyazesa, who had chosen not to return from
his mission abroad after the assassination of President Juvénal
Habyarimana, the defendant “ensured only current affairs”, argued the
French lawyer.
The most serious facts charged against this former senior official
relate to the role which he played in the massacre of thousands of
Tutsis who had sought refuge on Kabuye Hill, Gisagara sub-prefecture (Butare
prefecture) towards the end of April 1994. Committed by soldiers,
Interahamwe militiamen and Burundian Hutu refugees, the Kabuye
slaughters lasted several days.
The Kalimanzira trial opened on 5 May 2008. The prosecutor rested his
case on 30 June 2008 after having called 24 witnesses. The defence
rested its case on 11 February at the end of the testimony of the
defendant, the 43rd and last defence witness.
The
former cabinet director surrendered himself to the Tanzanian authorities
in November 2005 from Nairobi, Kenya, where he lived with his family
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