UN rebuffs judge's call to prosecute Kagame
November 23 2006 at 04:05PM Arusha, Tanzania - The United
Nations genocide tribunal for Rwanda said on Thursday it was at nobody's behest
to prosecute Rwandan President Paul Kagame for alleged complicity in the death
of the country's former president as called for by a French judge.
The tribunal's spokesperson Everard O'Donnell said "the prosecutor takes
instructions from nobody in the world," rebuffing Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere's
suggestion that Kagame should face trial before the Tanzania-based
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
Bruguiere said on Monday that Kagame should be prosecuted for "suspected
involvement" in the death of president Juvenal Habyarimana, whose assassination
touched off the country's 1994 genocide.
O'Donnell said the April 6, 1994 shooting down of Habyarimana's plane, in which
Burundi's then president Cyprien Ntaryamira and a four-man French crew were
also travelling in, did not cause the genocide.
"The crash did not create the genocide," O'Donnell told a press conference. "Do
you think we are historians?"
In addition, he said the tribunal had yet to receive a formal request from
Brugiere regarding the Kagame's prosecution.
"The prosecutor has not yet received any representations from Judge Bruguiere,"
he said.
On Wednesday, Kagame lambasted Bruguiere for suggesting he should be prosecuted
for Habyarimana's death, denouncing the calls as "rubbish."
"That some judge in France whose name I cannot even pronounce has something to
say about Rwanda - trying a president and some government officials - that's
rubbish," Kagame told diplomats and officials in Kigali.
Ties between Kigali and Paris are frosty, with Rwanda accusing France of
complicity in the 100-day genocide in which an estimated 800 000 people, mainly
minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were slaughtered by Hutu extremists.
Paris has adamantly denied the allegation but Kigali has set up a commission to
determine if there is evidence to file suit against France for damages at the
world court.
The commission is set to resume public hearings between December 11 and 19.
sharangabo rufagari <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Full government statement
The attention of Rwanda Government has been drawn to the fact that the
French Magistarate Jean Louis Bruguière is about to issue indictments
against senior Rwandan government military officers under the allegations
that they shot down former President Habyarimanas plane leading to the
death of 3 French citizens.
Government would like to make it categorically clear that there is no basis
whatsoever to these allegations. It appears to government that this is an
attempt to intimidate Rwanda using strong arm tactics and to use the
superpower position to hide the truth of Frances involvement in the
Genocide. It also is an unfortunate attempt to pre-empt the findings of a
Commission set up in Rwanda to investigate the role of France in the 1994
Rwanda Genocide.
This is not the first time that some in French official circles have
designed a plan to hide their known responsibility in the genocide of 1994.
Under the guise of judicial independence, Magistrate Bruguière working
together with other French organs of the state have organized genocide
denials and revisionists and have provided them a platform for their
political agenda and propaganda.
It is well known that France actively supported the Genocide and armed and
fought along side the forces that committed genocide in Rwanda. When they
faced imminent defeat she intervened through Operation Turquoise to save
them from total defeat and to preserve them so they can fight another day.
There are strong indications that some in the French official circles were
involved in the military and political reorganization of these genocidal
forces.
Rwanda is owed an explanation as to what the French citizens who perished in
Habyarimanas plane were doing in Rwanda in company of the planners and
authors of the Genocide, given the fact these were French military officers
on a mission to Rwanda during the planning and execution phase of the
Genocide.
Government believes that Frances role needs to be fully investigated and
fully exposed. This is why it set up the commission to investigate the role
of France in these events. The work of this Commission is expected to
clarify the role of individuals in the French establishment played, and
whether their activities are criminally indictable. Understandably, such a
prospect has made many in certain French circles extremely worried.
Judge Bruguières reported attempt to indict the Rwandan officials is aimed
at diverting international opinion from the emerging clarity about therole of
France. Moreover it is unprecedented in the history of judicial
proceedings for investigation, indictment and all processes to be carried
out and concluded outside of the country where the crime is alleged to have
been committed.
It is absurd that a foreign judge could issue an indictment against
officials of a sovereign state for crimes committed on the soil of that
sovereign state without going through either diplomatic channels or judicial
institutions of that sovereign state. This political game and drama in
judicial matters is a dangerous path and is inimical to international law
and order. Those involved are advised to desist from it.
Done in Kigali, Rwanda
November 21, 2006.
Posted on the web by
Sharangabo Rufagari
---------------------------------
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