DATE=11/5/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=RWANDA WAR CRIMES (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-255842
BYLINE=JENNIFER WIENS
DATELINE=NAIROBI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The U-N's Rwanda war crimes tribunal says a
man accused of crimes against humanity during the 1994
Rwanda genocide should be released because his case
took too long to come to trial. Meanwhile, as
Jennifer Wiens reports from Nairobi, other suspects
accused of genocide in Rwanda are complaining that the
tribunal is too slow and is violating their rights.
TEXT: The Rwanda war crimes tribunal dismissed the
charges of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide,
and crimes against humanity in the case of a former
Rwandan government official, Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza.
The court granted Mr. Barayagwiza's appeal for
immediate release, saying the tribunal's prosecutor
violated his rights as an accused person. Mr.
Barayagwiza charged that the tribunal detained him for
months without being officially charged and without
trial, and he complained of other delays in the trial
process.
Mr. Barayagwiza was an official in Rwanda's foreign
ministry at the time of the Rwanda genocide in 1994,
when extremists from the ruling ethnic Hutu
slaughtered more than one-half-million ethnic Tutsi
and moderate Hutu.
Mr. Barayagwiza also helped found a private radio
station, Radio Mille Collines, which was supported by
extremist Hutu and was notorious for its anti-Tutsi
broadcasts. His participation both in Rwanda's
government and with Radio Mille Collines led to his
eventually being charged with conspiracy to commit
genocide, public incitement to genocide, and crimes
against humanity.
Mr. Barayagwiza was detained in Cameroon in 1997 and
then brought to the international court in Arusha,
Tanzania and officially charged in February of last
year.
/// OPT /// There is still some question whether
Mr. Barayagwiza will now be returned to Cameroon or
whether he will just be set free in Tanzania. ///
END OPT ///
The Rwanda war crimes tribunal has been criticized
before for its slowness, but this is the first case
where a suspect was released because of delays in the
trial process.
The U-N Security Council established the tribunal in
1994 to prosecute those responsible for the massacres
in Rwanda. But the tribunal's first case was not
completed until 1998, and there is now a large back-
log of cases.
On Thursday, a group of 27 suspects accused of
genocide and imprisoned in Arusha sent a protest
letter to the tribunal, saying the trial delays are a
violation of their rights as defendants. The letter
also accused the international court of bias against
the defendants, and urged the U-N Security Council to
review the court's activities. (Signed)
NEB/JW/JWH/KL
05-Nov-1999 07:05 AM EDT (05-Nov-1999 1205 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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