Ngirabatware is charged with genocide and crimes against humanity. He is accused of being the main instigator of massacres of Tutsis in his home commune of Nyamyumba, northern Rwanda, in 1994. The three judges and representatives of prosecution and defence will visit 28 sites in Kigali and surroundings, Gitarama (central Rwanda) and Gisenyi (northwest), according to the court decision dated April 3. The visit had been requested by the parties, who argued that it would help the Chamber to better evaluate the credibility of witness testimony.
Closing arguments in the trial are set for June 18 and 19, 2012. This is the only remaining first-instance trial still being heard before the ICTR as it strives to meet its completion targets.
Ngirabatware was arrested in Germany on September 17, 2007 and transferred to ICTR custody in Arusha, Tanzania on October 8, 2008. A doctor in economics, the former minister has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. His trial took off on September 22, 2009.
NI/JC