RADIO CAUSED DEATHS, SAYS WITNESS

Arusha, July 9, 2001 (FH) - A prosecution witness told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Monday that many civilians had been killed in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide after they were denounced by radio RTLM. Witness 'FY', named as such to protect his identity, is testifying in the so-called Media Trial which groups former director of Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) Ferdinand Nahimana, former politician and RTLM board member Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, and former editor of "Kangura" newspaper Hassan Ngeze.

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According to FY, people targeted by RTLM broadcasts included his landlord Daniel Kabaka, a medical doctor named Boyi Straton, a buildernamed Kahabaye and Claire Maziyateke, a Tutsi with Belgian nationality. He said the first three were killed after RTLM wrongly denounced them as accomplices of the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF rebels now in power in Kigali). Claire Maziyateke survived, he said, and is still alive. He said that he had only mentioned his neighbours but that there were many more Tutsis and Hutu opponents to the then regime who were killed in similar circumstances. FY told the court that Tutsis of relatively high social standing were particularly targeted. Defence lawyers for Ngeze and Nahimana sought to demonstrate that the four people mentioned could in fact have been accomplices of the RPF. Co-counsel for Nahimana Diana Ellis of the UK asked FY why several Tutsis of high social standing had not been killed during the genocide. "These are people who had protection from strong personalities," FY replied. His cross-examination continues Tuesday. This case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of Judges Navanethem Pillay of South Africa (presiding), Erik Mose of Norway and Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana of Sri Lanka. GG/JC/PHD/FH (ME0709F)