01.10.09 - ICTR/NZIRORERA - GENOCIDE CONVICTED EX-RWANDAN MAYOR TO TESTIFY FOR DEFENCE AT ICTR

1 October 2009 By

Arusha, 01 October, 2009 (FH) - A Rwanda genocide prisoner and former Mayor of Mukingo Commune, northern Rwanda, Juvenal Kajelijeli, now serving life imprisonment in Benin, is expected to testify in defence of Joseph Nzirorera, ex-Secretary General of then Rwandan presidential party, MRND, in 1994, who is facing joint trial with two other senior political leaders before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

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‘'Juvenal Kajelijeli shall be temporarily transferred to the Detention Unit of the Tribunal in Arusha by 19 October, 2009,'' reads part of the order issued by Trial Chamber III and posted to the Tribunal's website.

The order, signed on September 28, 2009 by a three bench judges, presided by Justice Denis Byron, was in response to the application filed by Nzirorera requesting Benin to cooperate with the Tribunal and allow Kajeljeli to testify for the former MRND Secretary General.

The Chamber has directed the Registrar to make the necessary arrangements to facilitate Kajelijeli's appearance.

The case of Nzirorera, tried alongside the former President of MRND party, Mathieu Ngirumpatse and its vice-president, Edouard Karemera, is scheduled to resume on October 19.

Karemera has already concluded his defence after presenting 34 witnesses, including himself. Ngirumpatse has not been able to attend court sessions for more than 12 months because of his poor health condition.

The three suspects are accused of conspiring to commit genocide against mainly ethnic Tutsis in 1994, allegations which they have denied.

NI/SC/GF