EX-MINISTER'S TRIAL RESUMES, PROSECUTOR ASKS TO BRING MORE WITNESSES

Arusha, January 28, 2001(FH) - Prosecution in the genocide trial of former Rwandan Education Minister Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda on Monday asked to bring three new witnesses, as the case resumed before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Kamuhanda was Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the Rwandan interim government that presided over the 1994 genocide.

0 min 59Approximate reading time

His case was adjourned on September 25th last year after the hearing of 12 prosecution witnesses. As the trial re-opened, prosecutor Marks Moore of Ireland asked the court for permission to add three new witnesses to the witness list. Moore said the new witnesses would notably counter the alibi defence that Kamuhanda intends to bring. Defence counsel for Kamuhanda, Aicha Condé of Guinea, argued that the Chamber should deny the Prosecutor's request or, in the alternative, grant defence additional time to prepare for the witnesses. The court said it would deliberate before handing down a decision. Kamuhanda "distributed machetes"The 13th prosecution witness on Monday told the court that he had, at the height of the genocide, heard a gang of Interahamwe militia in his hometown say that Kamuhanda had distributed machetes. Protected witness "GAD'" said the machetes were subsequently used to kill ethnic Tutsis in Gikomerocommune, Kigali rural province. GAD, 46, said he was a Tutsi survivor of the genocide. The trial continued with the witness answering questions from the defence. This case is 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/FH (KH-0128e)