On 11 June, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) issued an indictment against a witness for giving false testimony during the trial of Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda. Judge Jai Ram Reddy (Fiji) confirmed the indictment and issued a warrant for arrest of the witness code named GAA.

This is the Tribunal’s first prosecution for contempt of court and false testimony. The case arises out of an investigation by the Office of the Prosecutor on the direction of the Appeals Chamber when it upheld the conviction of Kamuhanda on 19 September 2005. Witnesses in the trial were allegedly induced to give false testimony under oath.

The confirming judge issued the indictment on the basis of the written material submitted by the Prosecutor.