24 Apr ICTR Will Not Prosecute Rwandan President
24.04.07
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3 Comments
The ICTR has apparently refused to open an investigation into allegations that the current Rwandan President Paul Kagame was complicit in the 1994 assassination credited with setting off the Rwandan genocide of that year. The allegation of Kagame’s complicity in that 1994 assassination was made by a French judge and have so enraged the Rwandan government that it is trying to bring France to the ICJ over this and other allegations. I see nothing official on the ICTR website yet, so I don’t know whether there is any legal basis to contest this decision not to prosecute (I highly doubt it).
I post the following, sent from Professor Peter Erlinder: As Lead Defence Counsel in Military I at the ICTR, we have been systematically introducing evidence of the responsibility of Kagame, not only for the assassination of Habyarimana as part of a final offensive to seize power, but long-term planning and stockpiling of materiele…and the cover-up of UN/US knowledge of crimes by RPF that are being charged to the vanquished side in the 4 year Rwandan War. We also filed a Petition for a Writ of Mandamus, which has been forwarded to all members of the Security Council, with a supported dossier of several hundred pages of documents and testimony at the ICTR. Without arguing details, most historians would probably agree that crimes are committed in both sides during any war, and that the victors usually “spin” the recounting of the war to place major responsibility on the vanquished. The Rwanda War was no different, but record in Tribunal made telling the other side of the story possible. For anyone interested in doing the research, see exhibits associated with Brief of Major Ntabakuze, filed Monday 4/23 AND the Petition for a Writ of Mandamus filed in December and rejected by the… Read more »
The decision denying the petition for mandamus can be found here. There is absolutely no legal basis for challenging this decision. With all due respect, I cannot fathom why this petition for mandamus was even filed with the Tribunal, as it is so clearly contrary to the basic statutory scheme and organization of both the ICTY and the ICTR. The Prosecutors are entirely independent from the Trial Chambers in whom and when they prosecute – their discretion is indeed unfettered. Additionally, asking for remedies such as the suspension of all proceedings before the ICTR or the appointment of a special prosecutor is so manifestly unfounded (and unrealistic) that I honestly don’t know what to say. Also, is it really in the best interest of the defense counsel before the ICTR to pursue the issue of Kagame’s alleged crimes, and for them to do this in such a way? Let’s say that he is in fact guilty of what he is being accused of. How does that have any impact on the criminal responsibility of those now indicted before the ICTR? Last time I checked ‘they did it too’ still wasn’t a defense for the crime of genocide. If there is… Read more »
Dear Marko, Let me respond in reverse order: Before you conclude that Bruguiere should be dismissed because he is French…I would hope that you would read the substance of his report, and the sworn evidence in the record of military I….as well as examining the UNAMIR and USG documents put into the public record as exhibits…I am not asking anyone to take a leap of faith…merely that they do the research. Establishing that the killing of civilians was part of the accepted costs of the invasion…rather than a strategy of the side opposing the invasion, puts a very different light on the questions of “planning” “conspiracy” and the specific intent requirements of “genocide”. Perhaps you have not read the testimony of the U.S. Ambassador who told Kagame that, if he started the war again…he would be responsible for civilian deaths on the order of the Burundian massacres of late 1993? The evidence shows that is exactly what he did. Also, since crimes committed by the RPF are being charged to the ICTR accused…the parties who actually committed the massacres matters very much…it would be like holding the Japanese responsible for fire-bombing Tokyo or nuking Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For political reasons,… Read more »