PASTOR-SON GENOCIDE TRIAL ADJOURNED TO JANUARY

Arusha, November 5, 2001 (FH) - The genocide trial of Seventh Day Adventist pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana and his son Gerald Ntakirutimana at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was on Friday adjourned until January 14, 2001. The defence will start its case when the trial resumes.

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The court adjourned after hearing the 19th and last prosecution witness. Seventh Day Adventist pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, 77, is being jointly tried with his son Gerald Ntakirutimana, 44. At the time of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, Elizaphan was pastor of the Seventh Day Adventist church at Mugonero in Kibuye. Gerald was a medical doctor at the infirmary which lay in the same complex. The two are charged with five counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed during the 1994 genocide. This trial started on September 18, 2001. Since then, the court has heard the 19 prosecution witnesses, including one expert and two investigators in 27 trial days. The case is before Trial Chamber One of the ICTR, composed of judges Erik Mose of Norway (presiding), Navanethem Pillay of South Africa and Andrésia Vaz of Senegal. The last prosecution witness 'OO', named as such to protect his/her identity, testified in closed session. Trial Chamber One will from November 12, 2001, hear the continuation of the so-called media trial. The media trial groups Ferdinand Nahimana, founder member and alleged former director of Radio-Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM); Jean-Bosco-Barayagwiza, former politician and RTLM board member; and Hassan Ngeze, former editor of the newspaper Kangura. The media trial adjourned mid-September, 2001, after hearing 30 prosecution witnesses. It began on October 23rd, 2000. GG/JC/PHD7FH (NK1105E)