NGEZE TO TESTIFY MARCH 24

Arusha, March 21, 2003 (FH) - Trial Chamber One of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Friday ruled that one of the accused in what has been called the “Media trial”, give testimony March 24. Hassan Ngeze a former owner and editor of “Kangura“ newspaper, is jointly charged with Jean Bosco Barayagwiiza and Ferdinand Nahimana, both former senior government officers and founders of “Radio Télévision libre de mille collines”.

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All three have pleaded not guilty to charges that they used the media to incite the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The trial resumed by listening to another protected defence witness, dubbed “RM5” to keep his identity secret. The witness denied claims by the prosecution that Ngeze was armed during the genocide, saying that one had to get a firearms permit from the army in order to posses a gun. “Ngeze was on bad terms with the authorities”, claimed the witness, adding that he had been arrested many times on suspicion that he was colluding with the “inyenzi”, (cockroaches, a derogatory name for Tutsi rebels). Ngeze makes demandsNgeze, who has been requesting that the court to grant him more time in order to prepare his testimony, made a number of demands before appearing in person. He told the tribunal that he had been denied access to a printer in order to print out some of the documents he needed in his defence. He claimed that he had already bought he computer that he had been denied access to it by the United Nations Detention Facilities (UNDF) authorities. The court ruled that the UNDF should grant the accused his request, as he had argued that he had over 70 CD ROMS of documents that were relevant in his testimony. It also ruled that Ngeze would appear before the court, irrespective of whether he had got the printer or not. Hassan Ngeze's lead counsel, René Martel of Canada had requested that before Ngeze testified, the defence wanted to present another protected witnesses going by the name “RM 117”. The tribunal held that it would accommodate the witnesses when it resumed Monday. Trial Chamber One of the ICTR is composed of Judges Navanethem Pillay of South Africa (Presiding), Erik Møse of Norway and Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana of Sri Lanka. KN/FH(ME'0321e)