15.01.07 - ICTR/NDINDABAHIZI - APPEALS CHAMBER’S VERDICT IN THE CASE OF A FORMER MINISTER...

ICTR/NDINDABAHIZI - APPEALS CHAMBER’S VERDICT IN THE CASE OF A FORMER MINISTER EXPECTED TUESDAYArusha, January 15 2007 (FH) – The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will deliver its verdict on Tuesday in the trial if the former Finance Minister, Emmanuel Ndindabahizi. On July 15 2004, a trial chamber sentenced Emmanuel Ndindabahizi, 57, to imprisonment for the remainder of his life for genocide and crimes against humanity. He has appealed the judgment and the sentence. Ndindabahizi pleads for acquittal. The trial chamber notably concluded that, in 1994, the ex-Minister had encouraged the assaulters to kill Tutsis in his native region, Kibuye (west). He would also have distributed grenades and machetes that were used during the attacks. « He intended to destroy all or part of the Tutsi ethnic group », reads the judgment. « Considering his position as a member of the government, his words and actions played a conspicuous role in supporting the assaulters », the judges said. The defendant was arrested in Verviers, Belgium on July 12 2001. He claimed he was arrested after his « divorce » in 1998 with the prosecutor to whom he had until then regularly given information. MG/AT © Hirondelle News Agency