Uwinkindi trial starts Monday

The trial of genocide suspect Jean Uwinkindi, who was transferred from the International Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to stand trial in Rwanda, is scheduled to begin in substance on Monday.

According to Emmanuel Intumwa, the Judiciary spokesperson, the trial will now open in substance since all other procedural matters have since been adjudicated.

“Issues related to finances and the mode of paying the defence counsels were ironed out between the Justice Ministry and the lawyers,” Intumwa said.

The trial had met glitches in the beginning after issues arose with the payment of the lawyers, whose tab is supposed to be picked by government, as per the special law under which suspects transferred from ICTR and other foreign jurisdictions  are tried.

Uwinkindi’s lawyer Jean Baptiste Niyibizi confirmed the development.

Uwinkindi, a former Pentecostal pastor in the present-day Bugesera District, is charged with genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity.

The trial of Uwinkindi, which will be heard on first instance by a special chamber of the High Court, will be monitored by a team designated by the Residual Mechanism of the Criminal Tribunals that took over the ICTR work.

Arrested in Uganda in June, 2010, Uwinkindi is accused of spearheading killings in Kanzenze area in the former Kigali-Rural prefecture during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Source: The  New Times

UM– USEKE.RW