ICTR: EX-ARMY OFFICER FREED FROM JAIL EARLYA former Rwandan army officer sentenced to 15 years’ jail by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) left prison on Monday after the president of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals approved his early release. Captain Innocent Sagahutu had been due to finish serving his sentence early next year.
RWANDA: PASTOR UWINKINDI’S TRIAL OPENSThe trial of Pastor Jean Uwinkindi opened Wednesday in Kigali, after two years of delays. He is the first person to be transferred to Rwanda by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Uwinkindi, a pentecostal pastor who headed a rural parish in eastern Rwanda, was transferred to the Rwandan authorities in April 2012 after a long legal battle. He is charged with genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity. Uwinkindi is accused of being the main instigator behind massacres of Tutsis in the Kanzenze commune where his parish was.
PARIS: INQUIRY COMPLETED IN CASE OF TWO RWANDAN EX-MAYORS The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Paris has finished its judicial inquiry in the case of two former Rwandan mayors suspected of participating in the 1994 genocide in their country, according to an announcement Wednesday by the Civil Parties’ Collective for Rwanda (known by its French acronym CPCR), a French association that initiated the investigation of the two men. Octavien Ngenzi and Tito Barahira, who are detained in France, are both former mayors in the Kabarondo commune in eastern Rwanda.
ICC: PROSECUTOR DROPS KEY WITNESS IN RUTO CASE The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor’s office on Wednesday decided to withdraw a witness it had said was key in the trial of Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Sang. The two men are charged with crimes against humanity for allegedly playing a leading role in deadly violence that followed elections in late 2007. Following the Prosecutor’s decision, the trial was suspended until June 16.
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