The trial of genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga will resume on Tuesday, January 17 at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) with more witnesses testifying. The hearing resumes following judges’ holidays since last year. The last hearing took place on December 22, and since the beginning of his trial in September last year several witnesses testified about his role in Genocide. The trial is taking place at The Hague branch of IRMCT. Among the witness, the previous one code named KAB 072 testified of the role Kabuga played in planning and executing the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. For instance, he said the time when Interahamwe militias who lived in Kabuga’s compound killed several people in 1983, almost 11 years before the Genocide. Another witness who testified under code-name KAB38, in 1994 lived in the Muhima suburb of the city of Kigali said that members of political parties like Juvenal Habyarimana’s MRND and the extremist CDR held meetings on the second floor of Kabuga’s building. She noted that she heard from the Interahamwe who attended the meetings that they were organised with Kabuga’s authorisation. When they gathered for meetings, the Interahamwe used slingshots to throw stones at Tutsi nearby, drink alcohol, dance, and sang,” said the prosecutor reading KAB38’s testimony. KAB38 noted that she saw Felicien Kabuga on two occasions in 1993 in the courtyard of his building surrounded by the Interahamwe. When the Genocide started on April 7, 1994, large numbers of the Interahamwe gathered at Kabuga’s Muhima building, according to the witness. Other witnesses that have testified so far presented to court evidence regarding how Kabuga was responsible for the broadcasts of radio RTLM which fueled genocide in various parts of the country, among other things. Kabuga is charged with genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, persecution on political grounds, extermination, and murder as crimes against humanity. The 89-year-old businessman allegedly played a big role in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, by providing weapons, and financial and moral support to the killers. So far, the IRMCT has heard from various witnesses who pinned Kabuga on such crimes.
