WITNESS SAYS RADIO RTLM WAS NOT LINKED TO PRESIDENTIAL PALACE GENERATOR

Arusha, May 22, 2001 (FH) Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) was not linked to an electricity generator at the Rwandan presidential palace, a prosecution witness told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Tuesday. "So far as I know, that is not right," said the witness, who is testifying in the case of three suspects accused of using the media to fuel the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

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The suspects are former RTLM director Ferdinand Nahimana, former politician and RTLM board member Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza and former "Kangura" newspaper editor Hassan Ngeze. Witness Thomas Kamilindi, the 21st prosecution witness in the case, was a journalist at the Rwandan Office of Information (ORINFOR) and worked there when Nahimana was director from December 1990 to April 1992. He testified mostly against Nahimana. Some other witness testimonies have been to the effect that in case of power cuts, RTLM was supplied from a generator at the presidential palace. Kamilindi told the court that despite the geographical proximity of the two buildings, there was no such connection. "I never saw any cables linking the two buildings, I never saw any trace of cable-laying work on the road," the witness said. The RTLM building and the presidential palace were separated by a tarmac road. Nahimana's British co-counsel Diana Ellis suggested that Kamilindi knew what he was talking about as he lived near to the two buildings at the time. The witness told the court that he had listened "sporadically" to RTLM. He said that he had even intended to buy two shares in it, but that he had changed his mind after learning more about its promoters. "What put me off was that all those people came from the group of Hutu radicals, they all tended towards Hutu extremism," Kamilindi told the court. He said they included Nahimana, Barayagwiza, businessman Félicien Kabuga (still on the run) and Radio Rwanda's chief technician at the time Joseph Serugendo. AT/JC/FH (ME0522e)