(29 Sep 2022)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Hague - 29 September 2022
1. Serge Brammertz, Chief Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, during interview
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Serge Brammertz, Chief Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals:
"It's still a very important trial. You know, you should ask these questions to the survivors and victims who have waited 28 years to see this trial start. And it is still very important as I said, it's important for the genocide and perpetrators in general. As you know, he was the last main fugitive for the Mechanism for our tribunal, so it is the last big case we are prosecuting ourselves. Having said that, there are more than 1,200 pending arrest warrants in Kigali in relation to other genocide, there. So it is the last trial at the Mechanism, but there are many others to go at the national level."
3. Mid of phone
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Serge Brammertz, Chief Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals:
"Well, I think the presiding judge made it clear that it was his choice and there was absolutely no medical reason why he was not attending. So it was a strategic decision from his side. He can waive the right to be present himself. So the trial started. The prosecution could put its case or the summary of this case forward. So I would say the proceedings started as expected."
5. Mid of journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Serge Brammertz, Chief Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals:
"He has all access to all medical facilities he needs. So he was considered fit for trial. So the trial started. And of course, time is essential here, so we hope that this trial can proceed as fast as possible."
7. Close of screen of camera showing Brammertz
STORYLINE:
A frail 87-year-old Rwandan accused of encouraging and bankrolling the country's 1994 genocide boycotted the opening of his trial at a United Nations tribunal Thursday, nearly three decades after the 100-day massacre left 800,000 dead.
Félicien Kabuga is one of the last fugitives charged over the genocide to face justice and, even without him in court, the start of his trial marks a key day of reckoning for Rwandans who survived the killings or whose families were murdered.
He did not appear in court amid a dispute over his legal representation but Presiding Judge Iain Bonomy said the case could open without Kabuga.
The court's chief prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, said Kabuga's no-show was "a strategic decision" as "the presiding judge made it clear that it was his choice and there was absolutely no medical reason why he was not attending".
Kabuga's lawyers argued unsuccessfully that he was not fit to stand trial.
However, on the advice of doctors who examined Kabuga, the process will run for just two hours per day.
The first evidence in the case is expected to be heard next week and will take months to complete.
Brammertz said that despite Kabuga's absence on Thursday, the trial would proceed "as fast as possible".
The mass killing of Rwanda's Tutsi minority was triggered on April 6, 1994, when a plane carrying President Juvénal Habyarimana was shot down and crashed in the capital, Kigali, killing the leader who, like the majority of Rwandans, was an ethnic Hutu.
The Tutsi minority was blamed for downing the plane.
Bands of Hutu extremists began slaughtering Tutsis and their perceived supporters, with help from the army, police, and militias.
Brammertz said the trial is significant despite the long wait for justice.
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