Arusha — The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) yesterday requested the court to give a life sentence to former Cabinet Director in the Rwandan Interior Ministry, Callixte Kalimanzira.
Kalimanzira is charged with Genocide, Complicity in Genocide and Direct and Public Incitement to Commit Genocide. He is largely accused for his alleged personal involvement and supervision of massacres in Butare, Southern Province during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
During the closing arguments, Prosecutor Ousman Jammeh described the evidence prosecution has against the accused as irrefutable, adding that Kalimanzira, like many other convicted former politicians, deserved to be jailed for life.
"The Prosecutor submits that Callixte Kalimanzira should be sentenced to imprisonment for the rest of his life for the crimes of which he is charged," he said.
Kalimanzira is also alleged to have supported policies of the interim government which planned and supervised the Genocide that left over one million people dead within 100 days.
Prosecution of the Tanzania based UN Court that was established to try masterminds of the Genocide also accuses Kalimanzira of using his influence to incite the massacres of the Tutsi in his native region in the Southern Province.
Jammeh added that given the sentencing practice of the ICTR, a life sentence is the only punishment that would reflect the gravity of his direct and individual responsibility of killing the Tutsi in Butare and the country in general.
The life sentence is the heaviest punishment the 15-year old court can pass.
"He personally issued orders to set roadblocks; he instigated and armed Hutus to kill Tutsis whom he consistently referred to as their only enemy. The right to life of the Tutsi people was denied," the Prosecutor added.
The prosecution added that there was no mitigating factor in the accused's case but that there was instead an aggravating factor because Kalimanzira abused his position of authority in society yet he had a responsibility to promote peace and reconciliation.
Jammeh said that the accused didn't show any remorse or admit guilt for his conduct and described his arrest as a purported claim that he voluntarily surrendered to the tribunal.
"There is irrefutable evidence before this Chamber that he was in fact trapped by the ICTR tracking team of the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) in Nairobi Kenya which made his purported surrender a mere academic exercise," Jammeh said.
The Prosecution listed individuals like Elias Niyitegeka, Juvenal Kajelijeli, Emmanuel Ndidabahizi, and Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda, all former cabinet ministers, who are serving life sentences and said that Kalimanzira didn't deserve anything less because he carried out similar heinous crimes in 1994.
Born in 1953 in Muganza Commune, Southern Province, Kalimanzira was trained as an agronomist and held several top positions in the former Rwandan government.
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In his piece entitled White Collar War Crimes, Black African Fall Guys,
investigative journalist Keith Snow writes:
First note that the ICC can now be viewed as a tool of hegemonic U.S. foreign policy,
where the weapons deployed by the U.S. and its allies include the accusations of, and
indictments for, human rights violations, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
To understand this, we can ask WHY NO WHITE MAN HAS YET BEEN CHARGED
with these or other offenses at the ICC (International Criminal Court) which now holds
five black African warlords and seeks to incarcerate and bring to trial another black man,
also an Arab, Omar Bashir.
Why hasnt George W. Bush been indicted ? Or what about Donald Rumsfeld ?
Dick Cheney? Henry Kissinger? Ehud Olmert? Tony Blair?
The sad fact is that the International Criminal Court has become terribly
politicized, as has the entire international justice apparatus.
The ICC has issued indictments, for the first time in history, against a sitting head of
state. Meanwhile, according to Snow, an Israeli weapons dealer, also a reputed Mossad
operative, is revealed to be shipping weapons into Sudan with Pentagon support.
And Belgium changed its law rather than prosecute Ariel Sharon for war crimes.
The double standard cries out to us.
One country in the West, however, increasingly stands out as a place where
justice can be found?and that is Spain. With its landmark indictment of
Pinochet and its current consideration of Israeli war crimes in Lebanon and
U.S. torture in Guantanamo, we increasingly look to the Spanish Courts with
hope. It was the Spanish courts that returned indictments against Rwandan
soldiers for genocide even as the world coddles U.S. proxy Rwanda and its
leader, Paul Kagame.
[allthingscynthiamckinney.com]
[This inspiring poem was featuring in the movie Coach Carter ]
Our Deepest Fear Is Not That We Are Inadequate, Our Deepest Fear Is That We Are Powerful Beyond Measure. It Is Our Light , Not Our Darkness That Most Frightens Us.
We Ask Ourselves, Who Am I To Be Brilliant, Gorgeous, Talented, And Fabulous ?
Actually Who Are We Not To Be ? You Are A Child Of God.
Your Playing Small Doesnt Serve The World.
There Is Nothing Enlightened About Shrinking So That Other People Wont Feel Insecure Around You.
We Are All Meant To Shine, As Children Do.
We Were Born To Make Manifest The Glory Of God That Is Within Us.
Its Not Just In Some Of Us; Its In Everyone.
And When We Let Our Own Light Shine We Unconsciously Give Other People Permission To Do The Same.
And As We Are Liberated From Our Own Fear, Our Presence Automatically Liberates Others
- Marianne Williamson -
[NOTE BEING AFRAID AND REFUSING TO GET INVOLVED WONT STOP US FROM DYING. BUT BEING AFRAID CAN PREVENT US FROM LIVING]
(Nkosi Sikeleli Africa )
God bless Africa May her glory be lifted high Hear our petitions .
God bless us, Your children God we ask You to protect our nation Intervene and end all conflicts Protect us, protect our nation, our nation.
From the blue of our heaven, From the depths of our sea, Over our eternal mountain ranges, Where the cliffs give answer.
Sounds the call to come together, And united we shall stand, Let us live and strive for freedom, In South Africa our land.
[Enoch Mankayi Sontonga]
WAKE UP !!! STAY UP !!!
[http://www.infowars.com/infowars.asx] / [gcnlive.com] Life Is A Game. Have Fun . Luke 18:17 - Isaiah 11:6