PROSECUTOR TO CALL ALL HIS WITNESSES IN ONE MONTH

2 September 2003 By

Arusha, September 2, 2003 (FH) – The prosecutor in the trial of Emmananuel Ndindabahizi, the former Rwandan minister of finance in the interim government, on Monday told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), that he intended to call all his witnesses within one month. “Based on the premise that the prosecutor will be able to present four witnesses every week, I expect that the prosecutor will complete the presentation of her case within four weeks from today” announced the representative of the Prosecutor during his opening statement.

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Prosecution counsel, Charles Adeogun-Phillips from Nigeria, further added that he would call 17 protected witnesses in addition to an investigator and an expert witness. The investigator finished testifying on Monday while the first protected witness continues with her testimony on Tuesday. The prosecution's expert witness will be Allison des Forges, ahen American historian and civil rights activist who has already testified in several cases at the tribunal. She will mostly dwell on the systematic and organised nature of the massacres committed in Rwanda in 1994 as well as the role of the interim government. Emmanuel Ndindabahizi, 53, is charged with three counts of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against Tutsis in his native prefecture of Kibuye (western Rwanda). He has pleaded not guilty. Ndindabahizi is represented by Pascal Besnier and Guillaume Marçais form France. The prosecution team is made up of Charles Adeogun-Phillips and Wallace Kapaya from Tanzania. If the prosecutor keeps his promise, it will be the second time that all prosecution witnesses in a trial are heard in one month, coming close on the heels of that of the former mayor of Rusumo in Kibungo (eastern Rwanda), Sylvestre Gacumbitsi. Ndindabahizi's trial is taking place in Trial Chamber One of the ICTR composed of Erik Møse, from Norway (presiding), Khalida Rashid Khan from Pakistan and Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda. KN/AT/CE/FH (NB'0902e)