NAHIMANA'S LAWYERS APPEAL COURT'S DECISION TO BAR EXPERT WITNESS

5 March 2003 By

Arusha, March 5, 2003 (FH) - The defence team of Ferdinand Nahimana, one of the three media personalities accused of genocide in the socalled Media Trial, appealed on Tuesday to Trial Chamber One of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to go back on its decision of not allowing an expert witness. JeanMarie BijuDuval from France and Diana Ellis from Great Britain, who represent Nahimana, filed the motion while the chamber is hearing defence witnesses for Ngeze Hassan, one of the coaccused.

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Nahimana's defence had requested that four expert witnesses be called, but the chamber ruled that that the testimony of Dr. Helmut Strizek from Germany was not relevant to the case. A former official of the European Community, Dr. Strizek lived in Rwanda for many years, and one of the subjects the defence wanted him to broach on was the identity of the attackers of former president Habyarimana's plane. The death of Habyarimana marked the beginning of the 1994 genocide. The three other expert witnesses requested by the defence have been allowed to appear in court, but one of them, Mr. Barrie Collins, was limited by the chamber on the subjects of his testimony. It snubbed the defence's intentions to have Collins analyse the Arusha Peace Accords, ruling that it "… does not need expert assistance to review the Arusha accords". The other two expected to testify are military experts; Mr. Peter CaddickAdams and an unnamed witness who would cover the subject of the roles of the various military forces in the runup to the genocide. Nahimana's defence team has so far called 11 witnesses in the case that has been going on since October 2000. Nahimana, a former university professor and one of the founders of Radio télévision libre de milles collines (RTLM), and Ngeze, former editor of "Kangura" newspaper, are being jointly tried with former politician and boardmember of RTLM, Jean Bosco Barayagwiza. The trio are accused of using the media to whip up ethnic sentiments and incite Hutus to kill Tutsis during the genocide in Rwanda. All accused deny the allegations. Wednesday marked the second day that Trial Chamber One has not been sitting. Judge Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana of Sri Lanka was still absent from court and Judge Erik Mose of Norway was still away. It is not yet known when the trial will resume. Although Judge Mose is now back in Arusha, Judge Pillay has left for the Hague where she will be sworn in as one of the 18 judges of the International Criminal Court and is not expected in Arusha before March 12, 2003. KN/CE/FH(ME'0503e)