Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza has before the ICTR Appeals Chamber a notice of withdrawal of his previous notice request to the Chamber to stay part of its Decision of 3 November 1999. That decision dismissed the indictment against him because of his prolonged detention without trial and directed the Registrar to make the necessary arrangements for his delivery to the authorities of Cameroon, where he had been arrested.
Barayagwiza said in his new request dated 17 November 1999 that he now wishes to be returned to Cameroon. The former accused prayed the Chamber to take due notice of the withdrawal and direct that its Decision of 3 November 1999 be implemented without any further delay.
In the previous request Barayagwiza had asked the Appeals Chamber to grant him the liberty to choose his final destination and to direct the Registrar to make the necessary arrangements for his safe delivery to that destination.
Motion Seeking Disqualification of Judges Dismissed
The Bureau, composed of Vice-President Eric Møse and Judge Lloyd George Williams, Presiding Judge of Trial Chamber III today dismissed a motion seeking the disqualification of Judges Laïty Kama, Judge Navanethem Pillay and Judge William H. Sekule in the case of The Prosecutor vs Mathieu Ngirumpatse.
The accused had filed a motion for the disqualification of the Judges of the Trial Chamber II which presently has before it a Defence motion challenging the lawfulness and propriety of his arrest and detention.
The Bureau ruled that there were no grounds to warrant the disqualification of Judges Kama and Sekule. The application against Judge Pillay, who was originally assigned to sit as a member of the Trial Chamber II, was not considered by the Bureau because she was not available.
The matter was referred to the Bureau, pursuant to Rule 15 (B) which provides that the Bureau shall determine matters of this nature if it deems it necessary. Ngirumpatse, a former Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and President of the MRND party has pleaded not guilty to eleven counts charging him with genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the Geneva Conventions. He is defended by Counsel Charles Roach from Canada.
Filming of Tribunal Proceedings Begins
A new audiovisual recording equipment installed in courtrooms of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is now operational enabling the filming and recording of all proceedings before the Tribunal. The filmed material, which is broadcast quality suitable for transmission by television, will be for the archives and the media. The operation began with the resumption of the hearing of the Prosecutor’s witnesses in the trial of Ignace Bagilishema on 15 November 1999.
The state of the art equipment for this operation was donated to the Tribunal by the French Government. The equipment will enable the Tribunal to broadcast the filmed material on its work to Rwanda and to countries in the Great Lakes region and throughout the world.