16.09.10 - ICTR/NDAHIMANA - NDAHIMANA TRIAL ADJOURNED TO NOVEMBER

Arusha, September 16, 2010 (FH) - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Thursday adjourned to November 1, the trial of former mayor of Kivumu Commune in Kibuye prefecture (Western Rwanda), Grégoire Ndahimana, who is linked with massacres at Nyange Parish in April 1994.

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Presiding Cameroon Judge Florence Rita Arrey said that they changed the schedule following a consensus reached by parties with the bench on September 14.

According to the new schedule, the prosecution would close its case on November 12. It is expecting to call a total of 15 witnesses. The prosecution has already called six witnesses so far. Defence hearing, the judge said, would take off on December 1.

In the trial, Ndahimana is charged with genocide or complicity in genocide, in the alternative and extermination as crime against humanity. Between April 6 and 20, 1994, it is alleged, he was responsible for killing or causing serious bodily or mental harm to Tutsis.

Ndahimana allegedly planned the massacres at Nyange Parish jointly with genocide-convict, Father Athanase Seromba, who has since been sentenced to life imprisonment and genocide-suspect still at large, Fulgence Kayishema. In these massacres, more than 2000 Tutsi refugees were killed.

Born in 1952, Ndahimana was arrested on August 10, 2009 at Kachuga Camp in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He was transferred to the United Nations Detention Facility in Arusha on August 21, 2009. He made his initial appearance on September 28, 2009 and pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

FK/ER/GF

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