15.01.07 - ICTR/MUHIMANA - THE RAPES MUHIMANA IS ACCUSED OF PERTAINED TO HIS GENOCIDE INTENT...

ICTR/MUHIMANA - THE RAPES MUHIMANA IS ACCUSED OF PERTAINED TO HIS GENOCIDE INTENT, THE PROSECUTOR SAYSArusha, January 15 2007 (FH) – The rapes imputed to the former Councilor Mika Muhimana resulted from genocide intent, the prosecutor declared Monday before the appeals Chamber of International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). In April 2005, Muhimana, a former Councilor in the prefecture of Kibuye (west), was sentenced to life imprisonment by the ICTR which found him guilty of genocide and two crimes against humanity (rape and murder). «Throughout these many rapes, his target has been Tutsi women», François Xavier Nsanzuwera declared before requiring the confirmation of the sentence. «Once, when the defendant raped a Hutu woman by mistake, he apologized to her, saying he had mistaken her for a Tutsi woman », he told the court. « He personally raped seven victims, some of them repeatedly (…), one of the victims was underage», Nsanzuwera, the first Rwandan trial attorney to plead before the Appeals Chamber of the ICTR, added. Before the trial chamber, Muhimana was convicted not only for his serial rapes but also for having murdered many Tutsis. « He personally, directly and physically took part in the atrocities we have mentioned », Nsanzuwera continued. The lead defence Counsel, Nyabirungu Mwene Songa, had previously asked the appeals chamber to « cancel the verdict of guilty, to replace it with a verdict of not guilty and to order the immediate release » of his client. Alternatively, the defence lawyer asked them to order a new trial or to convert Mika Muhimana’s life sentence to a temporary imprisonment. For Mr. Songa, « these rapes the prosecutor and the trial chamber keep referring to in order to justify the maximum sentence have been retained on the basis of one only and uncorroborated testimony ». The Congolese professor denounced « coarse contradictions » in the prosecution witnesses’ testimonies, adding that many of these were part of a « conspiracy» against Muhimana. Mr. Songa called the trial chamber a « terrible and fearsome machine » working for « the defeat of the innocent » and accused its judges of having « turned the evidence against the accused » who, in his opinion, has been convicted on the basis of « undocumented facts ». The defendant was born in 1961. A businessman, he became Councilor of the sector of Gishyita in 1990. He was arrested on November 8 1999 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. MG/ER © Hirondelle News Agency