Hirondelle News Agency (Lausanne)
17 March 2008
Arusha — The president of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Judge Dennis Byron, has authorized two new visits of judges to Rwanda to the sites of the alleged crimes committed during 1994 genocide.
The visits had been decided by the concerned chambers but, according to the rules of the ICTR, they cannot take place without the approval of the tribunal's president.
The judges will visit the site of alleged crimes committed by genocide accused and former popular Rwandan singer Simon Bikindi and former Vice-Chancellor of the Christ the King College of Nyanza, Hormisdas Nsengimana. Both have pleaded not guilty to genocide and crimes against humanity.
The tours will take place between 14 to 18 April. The Bikindi trial is presided by the Argentinean Judge Ines Weinberg de Roca. The Nsengimana case is presided by Norwegian Judge, Erik Mose, former ICTR President.
The clergyman is in particular accused of having killed a Tutsi priest and seven women from the same ethnic group in Southern Rwanda.
The ICTR judges have until now visited six times Rwanda.
The first visit took place in 2001, within the framework of the trial of the former Mayor Ignace Bagilishema, the first person acquitted by the tribunal; while the last one took place last November in the case of Protais Zigiranyirazo, known as "Mr Z", the brother-in-law of the former President Juvenal Habyarimana.
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