Brussels, April 25, 2007 (FH) \u2013 \u201cYou will need to judge what is impossible to imagine,\u201d investigating Judge Damien Vandermeersch told jurors at the Court of Assises in Brussels which must decide on the participation of Bernard Ntuyahaga i the assassination of ten Belgian Blue Helmets from the UNAMIR and that of multiple Rwandan figures during the 1994 genocide. <\/p>\n
Damien Vandermeersch, judge in charge of investigating the case from 1995 to 2004, placed his work in the context of the genocide: \u201cI must present to you today what is not possible: which could not exist. My assignment tells me that it is the work of man which did that which is the hardest memory of my life,\u201d he said, visibly affected. \u201cWe\u2019re talking about 800,000 to 1 million murders. A genocide, it\u2019s a lot of people. These are numbers, but they are also our Blue Helmets, men, women, children. We tell ourselves that it can\u2019t be true. But what is true is that it has been investigated and it\u2019s true that you must judge,\u201d he continued in his testimony before the Court of Assises in Bussels. <\/p>\n
After a lengthy recollection of the chronology of the investigation, he asked the jurors to consider the whole file: \u201cI\u2019ve already had large files, but never like this. It wasn\u2019t one ethnic group against another, it\u2019s more complex than that. This context allows it to be understood how people could have acted in a way that wasn\u2019t expected.\u201d Also, according to him, \u201cThere are contradictions in certain testimonies. It is possible that some people aren\u2019t telling the truth. It\u2019s also possible that it\u2019s just one biased point of view: one witness comes with what he saw. In addition, time has gone by. The contradictions also show that the testimonies weren\u2019t prepared in advance,\u201d he added. Mr. Luc de Temmerman, Bernard Ntuyahaga\u2019s lawyer, stated earlier that \u201cMr. Vandermeersch conducted the prosecution\u2019s investigation.\u201d <\/p>\n
The investigating judge also regretted \u201cthe lack of means\u201d which slowed down his investigation: \u201cI had hoped to submit this to you quicker.\u201d He also recalled, among other obstacles to his work, the refusal of the United Nations to allow him to hear from General Romeo Dallaire. \u201cI think that the UN maybe feared we might be too incisive on this sensitive subject. Meanwhile General Dallaire granted interviews and even wrote a book,\u201d he stressed. Romeo Dallaire, head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) in 1994, should testify on May 10 at the Court. <\/p>\n
The day was also marked by an incident provoked by Mr. Temmerman. Absent during the examination during the morning so as to not influence his client, Bernard Ntuyahaga\u2019s lawyer did not appreciate that his colleagues asked him about the deposition of Colonel Nubaha, former Commander of Camp Kigali, who Mr. Temmerman himself sought out in the DRC last week. He accused his colleagues of being there for \u201cfame and for the cameras.\u201d This elicited apologies. President Karine Gerard had to suspend the hearing so that the lawyers could settle their argument at the bar. <\/p>\n
Major Bernard Ntuyahaga, official in charge of logistics at the Kigali military camp in 1994, is accused of the assassination of ten Belgian Blue Helmets from the UNAMIR on April 7, 1994, as well as that of the Prime Minister at the time, Agathe Uwilingiyimana and of other Rwandan figures in Kigali and Butare between April 6 and July 5, 1994. This trial is taking place because of the law known as \u201cuniversal jurisdiction\u201d which permits, under certain conditions, Belgian courts to try foreign planners of crimes against humanity committed abroad. <\/p>\n
Bernard Ntuyahaga\u2019s examination finished yesterday. The trial opened April 19 and should last at least 2 months: more than 150 witnesses will be heard by the Court of Assises in Brussels starting today. <\/p>\n
BF\/PB\/KD
\n\u00a9 Hirondelle News Agency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Brussels, April 25, 2007 (FH) \u2013 \u201cYou will need to judge what is impossible to imagine,\u201d investigating Judge Damien Vandermeersch told jurors at the Court of Assises in Brussels which must decide on the participation of Bernard Ntuyahaga i the assassination of ten Belgian Blue Helmets from the UNAMIR and that of multiple Rwandan figures […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-18683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hirondellenews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n