Arusha, December 4, 2012 (FH) \u2013The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has dismissed a request by genocide convict Eli\u00e9zer Niyitegeka seeking investigation of alleged false testimony by prosecution witnesses in his case.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Former Rwandan Information Minister Niyitegeka is currently serving a life imprisonment sentence in Mali. He had asked for the appointment of an amicus curiae (friend of the court) to investigate in particular a witness code named GGV, with a view to initiate proceedings against him for false testimony.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Chamber finds that Niyitegeka has not shown that strong grounds exist for believing that GGV has knowingly and wilfully given false testimony,\u201d reads part of the decision dated November 28, 2012.<\/p>\n
The ex-minister had, alternatively, sought from 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, notably national prosecution in Rwanda.<\/p>\n
But judges deemed that for the Tribunal to consider changing protective measures so that foreign jurisdictions might get confidential information for use in national proceedings, a request must be made or authorized by the relevant judicial authority of the State in question.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Tribunal has received no such request with respect to investigations against witnesses in Niyitegeka\u2019s case,\u201d the judges ruled. \u201cThe Chamber, therefore, dismisses Niyitegeka\u2019s alternative request as frivolous.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former member of cabinet in the Rwandan interim government in 1994 was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity on May 15, 2003, and sentenced to life imprisonment. The Appeals Chamber confirmed both conviction and sentence on July 9, 2004.<\/p>\n
FK\/NI\/JC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arusha, December 4, 2012 (FH) \u2013The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has dismissed a request by genocide convict Eli\u00e9zer Niyitegeka seeking investigation of alleged false testimony by prosecution witnesses in his case.<\/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-24670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hirondellenews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n