Mbarushimana Genocide trial: Court orders trial to proceed despite defendant’s defiance

Emmanuel Mbarushimana, who is facing Genocide charges at the Special Chamber for International Crimes at the High Court, yesterday continued with his defiance stance by refusing to give his lawyer permission to begin presenting his defence. This came after prosecution concluded presenting their opening submission in which they explained in detail the charges the accused, who was extradited from The Netherland, is facing as contained in the indictment. When it was time for him to present his defence, Mbarushimana said he cannot defend himself because there is a pending appeal that he filed at Supreme Court which is yet to be heard. However, according to prosecution, which was represented by John Bosco Mutangana, stated that the appeal should not be deterrent for the substantive trial to proceed, especially since the suspect has continued to make no effort to ensure the trial comes to an end. Mbarushimana also refuses to recognise his two lawyers; Shoshi Bizimana and Christophe Hitayezu, who, owing to his status as an indigent, were assigned to him, from the Rwanda Bar Association, and who are paid by government through the Ministry of Justice. “They (defence lawyers) have to do their job in the interest of justice because they are officers of the court,” Jean Bosco Mutangana said, to which the presiding judge concurred. This means that the lawyers will today begin presenting defence for their client with or without their client’s consent. After defence presenting their side, the trial is expected to proceed with calling witnesses on both sides. Mbarushimana, who was a teacher at the primary school of Dahwe in the then Butare prefecture in 1994, is accused of Genocide complicity in Genocide, conspiracy to commit Genocide, murder and extermination in the former Muganza Commune, currently in Southern Province. He is accused of instigating the establishment of two road blocks in the area where many people were killed. He is also said to have been among the leaders of the attack on Kabuye Hill, where thousands of Tutsi were killed between April 21 and 25, 1994. He was arrested in Denmark over similar charges but the Danish Supreme Court ruled that he could not be tried by the country’s courts of law, thereby heeding an extradition request that had earlier been filed by Rwanda. Mbarushimana was extradited in July 2014, after exhausting all avenues to block extradition efforts, including petitioning the European Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights, which ruled that there were all conditions necessary for him to get fair trial in Rwanda once extradited. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Mbarushimana Genocide trial: Court orders trial to proceed despite defendant’s defiance