The Prosecutor of the ICTR and the convict, Jean-Paul Akayesu, have both appealed from the judgment rendered on 2 September 1998 by Trial Chamber I. In the said judgment, the Trial Chamber found Jean-Paul Akayesu guilty of nine (9) counts of the 15 counts comprising his indictment.

The Prosecutor is requesting that the not-guilty verdict in regard to Counts 6, 8, 10, 12 and 15 be quashed, and that Jean-Paul Akayesu be found guilty of said counts. The counts in question concern: violations of Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions (murder and cruel treatment) and Article 4(2)(e) of Additional Protocol II (outrage upon personal dignity, in particular rape, degrading and humiliating treatment and indecent assault).

In the notice of appeal filed on 1 October 1998, Jean-Paul Akayesu is praying the Appeals Chamber "to substitute acquittal for the guilty verdict, or, alternatively, to quash the guilty verdict and order a retrial.” Among other arguments, Jean-Paul Akayesu maintains that the Chamber "erred in law by dismissing a motion in perjury involving a protected witness; that the Chamber should have stood down once it accepted the amendment to the indictment, at the behest of the Prosecutor, to include crimes of rape."

In the amended notice of appeal filed on 2 October 1998, Jean-Paul Akayesu is appealing from the judgment for the following reasons:

"Denial of the right to be defended by an attorney of his own choice; denial of the right to a competent attorney; an illegal, biased and partisan court in its Statute and in the formation and conduct of the trial; other errors invalidating the guilty verdict, and total absence of the rule of law."

The notices of appeal filed by the parties stay execution of the decision pursuant to the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Tribunal. That notwithstanding, the convict remains in custody.