JOINT TRIAL OF CLEMENT KAYISHEMA AND OBED RUZINDANA TO RESUME TOMORROW 18 AUGUST 1998
Press Release
L/2893
JOINT TRIAL OF CLEMENT KAYISHEMA AND OBED RUZINDANA TO RESUME TOMORROW 18 AUGUST 1998
19980820 (Reissued as received.)ARUSHA, 18 August (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda) -- The joint trial of Clement Kayishema, a former businessman in Kibuye, resumed today before Trial Chamber 2 (comprising Judges William Sekule, presiding, Yakov Ostrovsky, and Tafazzal Khan), with a defence witness telling the court that Ruzindana was a businessman who never indulged in politics.
The witness, known only as DAA, added that he never saw Ruzindana in the company of members of the army, nor did he see him carry any weapon during the months when massacres are alleged to have taken place in Rwanda in 1994.
He added that he had known Ruzindana since the latter's early childhood and was also a family friend. DAA told the court that he was a civil servant who engaged in some business activity. He is the eighteenth defence witness to testify in the trial. The trial continues tomorrow, when the Prosecution will cross-examine the witness.
Kayishema and Ruzindana are jointly charged with Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, Violations of Article 3 Common to the Geneva Conventions and of Additional Protocol 2. They have pleaded "not guilty" to six joint counts, while Kayishema is separately charged with 18 other counts.
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