23.02.12 - WEEKLY PREVIEW - BEMBA, NGIRABATWARE TRIALS SET FOR MEETINGS ON WAY FORWARD NEXT WEEK

  Arusha, March 23, 2012 (FH) –The trial of ex-Congolese rebel leader Jean Pierre-Bemba at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and that of former Rwandan Planning Minister Augustin Ngirabatware before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) have been set for meetings deliberate on way forward.

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ICC

 

Bemba’s trial: On Tuesday (March 27) judges will meet with the parties in the case of Jean-Pierre Bemba to plan the way forward after the prosecution concluded presenting its evidence by calling 40 witnesses. According to rules and procedure of the court, a representative of victims could be given the opportunity to present witnesses before commencement of defence case. The Congolese senator and the leader of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) faces charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003.

 

 ICTR

 

Ngirabatware trial: The prosecution in the case of former Rwandan Planning Minister Augustin Ngirabatware is expected on Tuesday (March 27) to update the court as to when its remaining two witnesses will testify in the ongoing session to challenge the defence of alibi for the accused. Already six out of eight witnesses have given their testimony in attempt to rebut Ngirabatware’s absence in Rwanda during genocide between April 23 and May 23, 1994. The accused claims that within the period in question he was in Senegal and Swaziland. The ex-minister is charged with conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide or in the alternative, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, extermination and rape as crimes against humanity.

 

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