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| Africa: East |
| Strike blocks Rwanda genocide tribunal |
| 2004-01-29 |
| it’s gone from ridiculous to obscene. Defence lawyers at the international court to try people over the 1994 genocide in Rwanda have gone on strike. The strike has led to the postponement of three trials at the court, based in the Tanzanian town of Arusha. The lawyers say the tribunal is skewed in favour of the prosecution and one told the BBC "a fair trial is impossible." Officials deny the claims. Certainly true if you’re a dead victim hoping for justice. Some 46 people face charges in Arusha for the killing of some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The trial involving one of the alleged masterminds of the genocide, Theoneste Bagosora, is among those postponed. The trial of the first woman to be charged with genocide, former Minister of the Family and Women’s Affairs Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, was also delayed. She is accused of inciting the rape of Tutsi women during the genocide, among other charges. Family and women’s affairs? Which family, al-Ghamdi’s or Tony Soprano’s? Striking lawyer Christopher Black told the BBC’s Network Africa programme that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was being used as a political tool for the United States. "It’s all America’s fault with their emphasis on justice and accountability!" "The tribunal wants us here to make it look legitimate but it doesn’t want us to represent the suspects effectively." He said that defence investigators were not given as much money as the prosecution teams. The lawyers also want better access to their clients and to be given the names of prosecution witnesses, many of whom testify anonymously at present. Think there might be a reason for that, Chris? Mr Black denied that the lawyers were striking to get more money from the United Nations-backed trial for themselves, insisting the action was to protect the interests of their clients. Pure as the driven snow. Correspondents say the tribunal has speeded up its work in recent months and has now convicted 17 people in eight years. The Rwandan Government had accused it of being too slow and inefficient. Two a year? Yep. Last year, Hassan Jallow from The Gambia replaced |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #6 These yoyos make the 9th Circus look good. I thought that was impossible, but gee... Like Shakespeare said, "shoot all the lawyers". We'd have a much more peaceful world afterwards. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-1-29 9:27:37 PM |
| #5 Well, when they resolve this strike and finish with the Rwanda backlog....and Milosevic.....they should be ready to deal with Saddam, right? It will only take about another 500 years or so.... |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2004-1-29 1:55:11 PM |
| #4 Might have gotten the goods on Kofi and Chiraq. I just ran across this: Rwanda May Indict French Military for Their Role in 1994 Genocide By Brian Carnell Monday, September 16, 2002 Last month Reuters reported that Rwanda may try to indict several French military officers for their alleged role in aiding the 1994 genocide in that country as well as providing protection for the former Rwandan government as it fled the country in the summer of 1994. In 1998, a French parliamentary commission looked into the charges and found that there had been "errors of judgment" but no direct French participation in genocide. Beginning in 1990, the French government had been a major supporter of the Hutu-led government, supplying it with large amounts of military aid and training, including the loaning of French officers. The charges surrounding the French involvement with the genocide include: Found at brian.carnell.com 9/25/02 |
| Posted by: Anonymous2U 2004-1-29 1:17:10 PM |
| #3 Too bad the reavers didn't strike while the genocide was in progress. Maybe the deathtoll would have been smaller if the war-criminals had been more organized. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-1-29 1:06:59 PM |
| #2 This is exactly the kind of circus you get with "international tribunals." These people are war criminals, genocidal monsters, not some guy who killed his wife. Layout the evidence. If the defence lawyers don't want to do the trial, get rid of them and get some who will. Fair trial. Then execute the bastards |
| Posted by: RMcLeod 2004-1-29 3:21:21 AM |
| #1 Striking lawyer Christopher Black told the BBC’s Network Africa programme that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was being used as a political tool for the United States. Huh? How? |
| Posted by: Patrick Phillips 2004-1-29 2:23:37 AM |