Gashegu Muramira
2 July 2009
Arusha — The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has sentenced former investigator for Defence, Leonidas Nshogoza to ten months in jail.
Nshogoza walked to freedom yesterday since the court gave credit to the time he spent at the UN detention facility since February 2008.
In particular, the accused had been charged with two counts of contempt of court and two other counts of attempt to commit criminal acts punishable as contempt of the tribunal.
In a fully packed courtroom that included Nshogoza's former colleagues at the ICTR, Judge Khalida Rachid Khan ruled that the chamber only found the accused guilty of count one; contempt of the tribunal.
"Considering all the relevant circumstances, for contempt of the tribunal, the chamber sentences Leonidas Nshogoza to ten month imprisonment," she ruled.
"The chamber notes that Nshogoza has been detained in custody at the UN Detention Facility (UNDF) since February 2008. In consequence, the chamber directs that Nshogoza be released from the custody of the tribunal, forthwith, unless he is lawfully held," judge Khan added.
Moments after the ruling, a jubilant Nshogoza was seen hugging his wife and friends outside the courtroom.
He was arrested trying to bribe witnesses to give wrong testimonies in the trial of former minister Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda in whose trial he worked as defence investigator.
Kamuhanda has since been sentenced to life imprisonment and was late last year transferred to Mali from where he is serving his sentence.
Judge Khan however said that the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused made payments to witnesses GAA and A7/GEX, and that he offered them food and drinks.
"Prosecution failed to prove that the payments were made with the intent to bribe or otherwise interfere with the witnesses," the judge.
The judge added that prosecution failed to pin Nshogoza on the count of attempt to commit acts punishable as contempt of the tribunal, saying that there was no proof that the accused sought false testimony from witness BUC.
Born in 1961 in Muhanga, Southern Province, Nshogoza surrendered to the Tanzania-based UN court in February 2008. He was immediately placed under ICTR custody.
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As Defence counsel for Léonidas Nshogoza I thought I might clarify some points raised in the 2 July 2009 AllAfrica article on my client.
Note that although a summary of the judgment was read by the Trial Chamber on 2 July 2009 the actual judgment is still not available.
Without going into too much detail, Léonidas Nshogoza was accused of 1) meeting (purported) protected prosecution witnesses in violation of the Kamuhanda witness protection order, 2) bribing them to provide false recantations, 3) attempting to bribe another person (BUC) to give false testimony, and 4) attempting to bribe three others who never had contact with Nshogoza to give false testimony. The prosecution case essentially relied on the testimony of GAA - a Kamuhanda prosecution witness who met with Nshogoza in 2003 to recant his testimony, and who did so before the ICTR Appeals Chamber in 2005.
According to the judgment summary, the Trial Chamber found Nshogoza guilty of count 1, and not guilty of counts 2, 3 and 4. This means Nshogoza was was acquitted on every charge alleging bribery, influencing witnesses, procuring false statements and attempted bribery. The Trial Chamber did not believe GAA.
It is incorrect to say that Nshogoza was arrested 'while bribing witnesses' as he did not bribe witnesses. Rwandan authorities arrested him after arresting GAA.
Allison Turner