Arusha, June 29th, 2004 (FH) - A prosecution witness in the ‘MILITARY I’ trial involving four former military officials of the Rwandan army (Ex-FAR) on charges of genocide on Tuesday went into the eighth day of his testimony before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

The witness code-named DCH to protect his identity is considered important by the prosecution.

Judge Jai Ram Reddy of Fiji said, “This is clearly a very important witness for the prosecution, his evidence implicates all accused and is crucial to this case”

The military officials accused in this trial are the former director of cabinet in the Ministry of Defence Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, the former army commander of Gisenyi region, Lieutenant Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva, the former head of military operations of the army, Gratien Kabiligi and the former commander of Para-commando Battalion in Kigali, Aloys Ntabakuze.

The witness gave information which implicated Bagosora “for publicly inciting Hutus to kill Tutsis during a meeting where more than 100 military officers were present”. DCH has accused Kabiligi of “signing documents which allowed soldiers and Interahamwe to be transported from Mburabuturo to Nyamirambo in Kigali (Central Rwanda) where they were to fight”.

The prosecution witness has alleged that Ntabakuze “was in charge of the Amasasu, an underground organization extremist faction of the army”. He further alleged that “Ntabakuze was present in three meetings where soldiers trained Interahamwe”. The prosecution witness also alleged that he witnessed Nsengiyumva “distributing arms to Interahamwe and Impuzamagambi (CDR youth wing) and ordering the killing of four Tutsi women in Gisenyi by soldiers and Interahamwe”.

The prosecution indictment alleges, “Military leaders planned, prepared or executed a strategy and plan to commit atrocities, they knew that their subordinates were involved in massacres of the civilian population but took no action to stop them. Without the complicity of local, civil and military authorities, the principle massacres would not have occurred”. In the 1994 genocide, around one million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.

Defense counsels in this trial have challenged the witness on several issues including how he managed to be in so many places during close intervals at the time of the genocide when movement was restricted. The witness maintained that he worked as a driver transporting soldiers and Interahamwe militia across Rwanda when he met all accused and witnessed their deeds.

He was also challenged for failing to give exact times when events took place, and for providing new information which was not contained in his statements or in the pre-trial brief. DCH defended himself by saying, “There was no contradiction,” and he “was obliged to reveal only part of the information for fear of my security while in Rwanda”.

DCH gave a total of nine statements to ICTR investigators. He was testifying for the second time in this trial. DCH’s first testimony was halted because the defence teams had not received in time all the documents which allowed them to cross-examine the witness effectively. This witness also testified in another trial involving a genocide convict, Laurent Semanza.

All four accused in this trial have pleaded not guilty to charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The next witness lined up after DCH is code-named XXY. Another witness is scheduled to testify on Friday by video link from Brussels.

The trial is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR composed of Judge Jai Ram Reddy of Fiji who was presiding on behalf of Judge Erik Mose from Norway who is away and Judge Serguei Aleckseievich Egorov from Russia.

SV/AT/JA/GF/FH (ML1''0629e)