“Niyitegeka offers nothing new to establish prima facie case of false testimony. (His) attempt to further contest the original findings entered against him should be dismissed,” the prosecution’s response signed by Chief of Appeals and Legal Advisory Division in the Prosecutor’s Office, James Arguin, reads in part.
The ex-minister, currently serving life imprisonment sentence in Mali, was convicted by the Tribunal’s first instance on May 15, 2003, of genocide and crimes against humanity. The Appeals Chamber confirmed both conviction and sentence on July 9, 2004. The Tribunal also rejected his five requests to review the findings.
In the motion, Niyitegeka is asking a Trial Chamber to order the Tribunal’s Registrar to appoint an amicus curiae (friend of court) to investigate the prosecution’s testimony, in particular for witness GGV, with a view to initiate proceedings for false testimony.
He, alternatively, requests the judges to rescind protective measures for all prosecution witnesses who had testified in his case to allow disclosure of their identities and instigation of proceedings against them for false testimony before other courts.
But in the response, however, the prosecution submitted that the request by Niyitegeka should be denied because it constitutes, once again, an impermissible attempt to re-litigate portions of his earlier unsuccessful requests for review, especially regarding the credibility of witness GGV.
In 2011, the ex-minister filed a similar motion before the Appeals Chamber. But on February 1, 2012, the Chamber rejected the motion for lack of jurisdiction. Judges on appeal advised him to lodge the application before the President so that he could appoint a Trial Chamber to decide on the matter.
The ICTR President, Judge Vagn Joensen, granted the motion on September 7, 2012, and assigned himself and two other judges to determine the application.
FK/NI/GF