Rwanda: Neurologist Says Kabuga Would Struggle to Set Up His Defence

U.S. Department of State
Pictures of Felicen Kabuga on the U.S. State Department's website about fugitives from justice (file photo).
29 March 2023
The New Times (Kigali)
By Hudson Kuteesa

The latest medic to present his findings about Felicien Kabuga's health situation has said he thinks it would be difficult for the 90-year-old to sit down with his lawyers and deliberate on an argument to present before the court.

Kabuga's health is currently a big issue in the case of the ex-businessman who is standing trial at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague Netherlands, on charges related to the Genocide against the Tutsi.

Notoriously dubbed "the financier of the genocide," Kabuga is battling counts including genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, attempt to commit genocide and conspiracy to commit genocide, as well as persecution and extermination - both as crimes against humanity.

So far, the court has heard presentations from three medics who carried out examinations on Kabuga, and all of them have said that he is suffering from dementia, a mental impairment that would make him unfit to stand trial.

During a court session that took place on Wednesday, March 29, Patrick Cras, a neurologist from the University Hospital of Antwerp and a professor of neurology at the University of Antwerp, talked about the two types of dementia with which Kabuga is diagnosed: - Vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

"One of the main characteristics of dementia is that it is irreversible. Now, in Mr. Kabuga's case, we are probably talking about a combination of Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. Vascular dementia is characterised by periods of improvement and deterioration - alternating but never to the extent that a person recovers his full cognitive abilities," he said.

In a report that the medics made about Kabuga's health, they noted that he remains capable of expressing his will and preference in limited areas concerning his own health and wellbeing. When one of Kabuga's lawyers, Emmanuel Altit asked Professor Cras what this statement means, he responded:

"It means that competence and decision meaning is contextual. While you might not be able to write a will, you might be able to decide whether you want to have tea or coffee in the morning."

Altit went on to ask Professor Cras if he thinks Kabuga can hold meetings with his lawyers and discuss complex elements such as evidence. In response, the professor said:

"To some extent that is a theoretical question because we have not observed Mr. Kabuga in that particular situation. But given the state of his dementia, I think it would be very difficult to almost impossible to set up a sort of reasoning and argumentation together with his counsel."

Prosecutor Rashid S. Rashid asked Professor Cra about Kabuga's hearing challenges and if they play a role in his poor cognitive functioning.

"According to the WHO, hearing problems are an important risk factor for dementia, but that does not mean that dementia can simply be treated or prevented by wearing a hearing aid obviously," he responded.

On March 23, Gillian Mezey, a professor of forensic psychiatry at St George's University Hospitals in the UK, said Felicien Kabuga is not fit to plead, understand evidence and meaningfully participate in a court hearing.

Mezey is one of the medics that were tasked with examining Kabuga's health and come up with independent medical reports regarding his fitness to stand trial, in order to guide the court's decision on whether to continue with the trial or not.

Genocide mastermind

A member of Akazu, the core team that oversaw the Genocide against against the Tutsi, Kabuga is particularly accused of having provided weapons, financial and moral support towards the atrocious genocide against the Tutsi.

Before and during the Genocide, Kabuga enjoyed the trappings of power which he partly derived from his personal ties with ex-President Juvenal Habyarimana.

RTLM, a radio he founded is known to have been used as a key tool to propagate hate towards the Tutsi by broadcasting anti-Tutsi material, for example the infamous speech by Leon Mugesera in which he called for the throwing of the Tutsi in River Nyabarongo so that they can go back to where they came from by way of River Nile, to which Nyabarongo is a tributary.

Read the original article on New Times.

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