I WAS GANG RAPED BY MILITIA SENT BY EX-MAYOR, SAYS WITNESS

Arusha, December 6, 2001 (FH) - A witness told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Thursday that she was gang-raped and her private parts cut by a group of militia sent by former Rwandan mayor Juvénal Kajelijeli during the 1994 genocide. "They took me to the river," protected witness "GDT" told the court.

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"At that point I was tired from the blows they had given me. They spread my legs and started raping me. "GDT said that she had heard the militiamen say Kajelijeli had sent them to take her to a bar where he was having a drink. Kajelijeli was mayor of Mukingo, in the northwest Rwandan region of Ruhengeri, during the 1994 genocide. He is charged with several counts of genocide and crimes against humanity. "All these people took their turns at inserting their sexual organs into mine," said the Tutsi woman after several requests by the prosecutor for detail. "After the sixth, I became unconscious and lost count of people that raped me. "She said that the militiamen had left her for dead by the river. "When I regained my consciousness, I realised that part of my sexual organ had been cut and I was bleeding," she said. GDT said that she had been saved and hospitalized by soldiers of the RPF (pro-Tutsi rebels now in power in Kigali) when they captured the area the day after she was raped. GDT continues her testimony before Trial Chamber Two of the ICTR, composed of judges William Sekule of Tanzania (presiding), Arlette Ramaroson of Madagascar and Winston Churchill Matanzima Maqutu of Lesotho. GG/JC/DO/FH (KJ1203e)