THREE WITNESSES TESTIFY BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

Arusha, September 5, 2001 (FH) - A third consecutive prosecution witness testified in closed session Wednesday in the genocide trial of former Rwandan minister Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda, before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). The case restarted on Monday with the testimony of a UN investigator, Upendra Singh Bhagal, in open court.

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The second witness in the case, investigator Albert Torch Martin, was heard in closed session, after the court heard that his testimony could reveal details of protected witnesses. Protected witness "GEK" then testified in camera. On Wednesday another protected witness, "GEK" began testifying, also in closed session. Kamuhanda is charged with genocide, complicity in genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including rape and murder. He has pleaded not-guilty to all nine counts against him. Defence maintains that the prosecution's allegations are "vague" and that Kamuhanda was arrested just because he was a minister in the interim government set up during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Kamuhanda was minister of higher education in the interim government. His case opened briefly on April 17th before Trial Chamber Two of the ICTR. However, the Chamber was recomposed following the death of its former presiding judge Laity Kama, and the case was this week restarted. The trial is now before judges William Hussein Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill Mantanzima Maqutu of Lesotho. SW/JC/FH (KH0905e)