Internews (Arusha)
Jane Some
15 March 2001
Arusha — Genocide suspect Laurent Semanza, a former mayor in Rwanda, killed a young girl by cutting her neck using a knife, a witness told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) yesterday.
Semanza also distributed weapons to militiamen in April 1997, at the start of the genocide in Rwanda, protected witness "VAQ" told Judges Yakov Otrovsky of Russia (presiding), Lloyd Williams of Jamaica and Pavel Dolenc of Slovenia.
Semanza, 56, is charged with 14 counts of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and crimes against humanity including rape and persecution.
During yesterday's proceedings in Trial Chamber II, witness VAQ gave a personal account of the tribulations he went through from 6 April 1994, the day a plane carrying Rwandan President Habyarimana exploded as it approached the Rwanda capital Kigali, killing all on board.
Witness VAQ, who was led in his examination in chief by Prosecutor Chile Eboe-Osuji, told the court that on 7 April 1994, an Interahamwe militiaman, whom he referred to only as Senegal, went VAQ's work place seeking to know where "the Tutsi snakes" were.
VAQ: We told Senegal that we did not know where the Tutsi snakes were. We also told him that we were Tutsi and he said he was leaving but would come back later.
Eboe-Osuji: Did anything else happen to you after this incident of 7 April 1994?
VAQ: Senegal left but returned later accompanied by some people. We fled to someone's house but the house was later attacked. A small girl in the house told us that the attackers were coming, so we fled again.
Eboe-Osuji: After you fled from that home, what happened next?
VAQ: The Interahamwe arrested me almost immediately [the Interahamwe were militiamen allied to the Movement for National Development and Democracy]. I was arrested and led towards Muyumbu health centre where there were more Interahamwe.
Eboe-Osuji: Did anything happen at this location on that date?
VAQ: In front of the health centre, I found naked bodies of women who had been beheaded. Near the women, there was a pit containing bodies of children. There were more than 20 beheaded women. The killings were going on ... A roadblock had been set up using the bodies of these women.
Esoe-Osuji: Did you notice the presence of those who were not dead?
VAQ: You mean the Tutsi or the Interahamwe?
Esoe-Osuji: Were there any important personalities that you recognized?
VAQ: There was Semanza and Fungimeza, the councillor of Gikoro. There were also many Interahamwe.
Esoe-Osuji: Did you see Semanza do anything while you were there?
VAQ: While I was there, the Interahamwe brought a young girl; she was tall and had sustained an injury on her thigh. Semanza gave her a blow at the level of the neck and also drove a knife into her breast.
Esoe-Osuji: What did Semanza use?
VAQ: He cut her at the neck with a knife. When the girl was brought, her ankles were cut and she fell to the ground. Semanza cut her neck and drove a knife through her heart through the breast ...
The witness went on to tell the court that the girl died as a result of the attack and that the Interahamwe, in the meantime, continued killing other people.
Witness VAQ said that there were also people in military uniform at the roadblock. These people, he said, were shooting at villagers.
He said there was a masked man, with a sharp machete, who concentrated on killing the women.
"The masked man was armed with a sharp machete and would, with one hand, hold the mouth of a woman and chop her neck with the other."
Witness VAQ said Semanza ordered him and three other men to kneel down and wait their turn to be executed. It was while he was still kneeling that a group of 18 women were brought and the masked man went to kill them that the witness took the opportunity to escape.
VAQ said that after he escaped, he came across an Interahamwe militiaman, whom he referred to only as Rwagasore, together with a policeman from Gikoro, whom he said was called Niyonzima. He said the two beat him up badly and Niyonzima later threw him into the bush where he blacked out. He regained consciousness later.
The witness was later cross examined by counsel for Semanza, Charles Taku of Cameroon.
The hearing continues.
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