'EXTREMIST' PAPER WAS NOT DIFFERENT FROM OTHERS, SAYS DEFENCE

Arusha, July 10, 2002 (FH) - Defunct Rwandan newspaper, 'Kangura', had a similar editorial content to that of '50 or so' other newspapers in Rwanda at the time of the genocide, defence counsel for genocide suspect and former owner of the paper, Hassan Ngeze, told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Wednesday. Ngeze is accused of having used his newspaper to incite ethnic Hutus to kill Tutsis in the run-up to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

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An estimated one millionTutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed in the 1994 genocide according to an official census by the government of Rwanda. "What is it that distinguishes Kangura from 50 or so other magazines writing the same things, using the same cartoons, using the same language and making the same statements", defence counsel, John Floyd of the US asked expert witness and Rwandan historian, Marcel Kabanda during cross examination. Floyd put the question as he read out one of several articles from different magazines describing Tutsis as enemies of the country, a line commonly used by Kangura. "We have to consider everything written by Kangura before we come to such a conclusion", responded Kabanda. He said that Kangura had a "consistent" barrage of anti-Tutsi articles and cartoons. Kabanda first testified in this trial earlier this year but cut short his testimony when the trial adjourned to hear an alternate trial before the same Chamber. Earlier on, expert witness and Rwandan linguist, Mathias Ruzindana, completed his testimony. Like Kabanda, Ruzindana had returned to complete his testimony cut short earlier this year. Despite persistent challenges from Alfred Pognon, defence counsel for genocide suspect and founder member of the Coalition pour le defence de la Republique (CRD), Jean Bosco Barayagwiza, Ruzindana maintained that the party had rallied Hutus to kill Tutsis. The prosecution alleges that CDR, from its inception in 1992, spread hard-line anti-Tutsi propaganda. Its top leadership is also accused of participating in thegenocide. Pognon read out to the court the constitution of CDR indicating that it was "a party for all Rwandans regardless of ethnicity". Asked how a party with such a constitution could have acted otherwise, Ruzindana replied that, "what is on paper is not what is always on the ground. " "Those who were on the ground in Rwanda know that CDR represented violence. CDR represented pure Hutuism", he added. Ngeze and Barayagwiza are jointly on trial with Ferdinand Nahimana, a founder and alleged former director of alleged hate radio Radio-télévision Libre des Mille collines (RTLM). The 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/JA/DO/FH(ME-0710e)