\nArusha, February 8th, 2005 (FH ) - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has requested that the government of the Netherlands cooperate with Colonel Theoneste Bagosora\u2019s defence team.\n<\/p>\n
\nBagosora is considered by the Prosecutor of the ICTR as having been the \u201cmastermind\u201d of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nAccording to the decision, the chamber requested the \u201cthe Kingdom of the Netherlands to grant permission for Major van Putten to be interviewed by the Bagosora Defence\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe Dutch officer, who could possibly be called as a witness, was a member of the United Nations Assistance Mission to Rwanda (UNAMIR) which was present during the 1994 genocide. An estimated one million people were killed at the time.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe court directed the Registrar to transmit its decision to concerned authorities \u201cwith a view to calling him as a witness and to provide any relevant assistance that may be reasonably required to facilitate this meeting\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe tribunal explained in its decision that prior attempts by the defence to seek the Netherlands\u2019 cooperation had not been successful, although the Dutch ministry of defence had promised to cooperate if requested to officially by the tribunal.\n<\/p>\n
\nRaphael Constant, Bagosora\u2019s lead counsel will begin calling his witnesses from March 31. He is currently travelling all over the world interviewing potential witnesses, including another former UNAMIR officer, General Clayton Yaache from Ghana.\n<\/p>\n
\nYaache is currently Ghana\u2019s army chief-of-staff and used to be in charge of UNAMIR\u2019S humanitarian section.\n<\/p>\n
\nConstant would also like to meet with two former Ambassadors to Rwanda: Jean-Michel Marlaud of France and Belgium\u2019s Johan Swinnen.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe ICTR had requested that the French and Belgian governments facilitate Bagosora\u2019s defence team interview with the two men.\n<\/p>\n
\nAccording to well-informed sources, a meeting between Constant and the retired French envoy took place mid January this year.\n<\/p>\n
\nConstant had complained at the beginning of the year of the \u201clack of cooperation\u201d on the part of Belgium for failing to facilitate a meeting with Swinnen, who is currently posted to Kinshasa (DRC).\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cBelgium is in the process of examining the request\u201d, said Roland Amoussouga, spokesman of the tribunal. \u201cWe are expecting a satisfactory reply soon\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\nAccording to Belgian diplomatic sources, when Bagosora\u2019s defence complained of lack of cooperation, they had not made their requests through the right channels.\n<\/p>\n
\nAn accord signed between the Tribunal and Belgium stipulates that all requests should pass through the former and should be in writing, something that the defence failed to do.\n<\/p>\n
\nColonel Bagosora is jointly on trial with three other former Rwandan army officers. All have pleaded not guilty to crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.\n<\/p>\n
\nKN\/ER\/PB\/GF\/FH (ML I\u2019\u2019\u20190208e)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arusha, February 8th, 2005 (FH ) - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has requested that the government of the Netherlands cooperate with Colonel Theoneste Bagosora\u2019s defence team. Bagosora is considered by the Prosecutor of the ICTR as having been the \u201cmastermind\u201d of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.<\/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-23152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hirondellenews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n