CNLG blasts Dutch lawyer over Genocide remarks

The National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG) has condemned a Dutch lawyer who on Monday told a district court at The Hague that the commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda is a manipulation by the government. Dr Jean-Damascène Bizimana, the CNLG executive secretary said, those are the kinds of remarks made, every year, by Genocide deniers and revisionists who are intent on destroying the spirit of those who survived the Genocide. “Her comments are unpardonable. Remembering is not political manipulation but a duty by every nation in this world especially when it comes to a Genocide in which more than one million people were killed by a government that was supposed to protect them,” Dr Bizimana said. “We denounce all Genocide deniers. Every year, the leaders of France and the Netherlands meet to remember the genocide against the Jews. Why has she not called that political manipulation?” An official at the Embassy of Rwanda in the The Hague has told The New Times that the lawyer, Caroline Buisman made the “alarming comments” during an extradition hearing; Dutch State Prosecution versus Jean Claude Iyamuremye and Jean Baptiste Mugimba, two indicted suspects on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. In the past, the Dutch prosecution filed a case against the duo, requesting the Netherlands to extradite them to Rwanda for their alleged role in the Genocide against Tutsi. Buisman reportedly acts as legal counsel for Iyamuremye, a man alleged to have had a hand in the killing of the Tutsi who had fled to ETO in Kicukiro sector. During the Genocide, Mugimba was the National Secretary of CDR political party widely condemned for being actively involved in mass killings of the Tutsi. A statement from the Rwandan embassy at The Hague says that Buisman told the district court that the “government of Rwanda uses 1994 Genocide against Tutsi commemorations for its political agenda and is a manipulation.” “It is very sad to hear a learned lawyer calling commemorations and remembrance of the victims of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi a manipulation by government,” reads the statement. According to the embassy, Buisman, as a lawyer, is well aware of the fact that the ICTR Trial Chamber concluded, in September 1998, that “genocide was, indeed, committed in Rwanda against the Tutsi as a group” and that the Appeals Chamber confirmed, on June 16, 2006, that it is a “fact of common knowledge” that between April and July 1994, a Genocide against the Tutsi ethnic group was committed in Rwanda. “This should at least serve as a basis for all of us to desist from any attempt to deny or trivialise facts of genocide, as well as to minimise its scale.” The embassy also points out that the lawyer, of all people, should be aware that on December 23, 2003, UN General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/58/234 mandating on April 7 the observance of the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. In April 2014, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2150 (2014), which confirmed that, the 1994 genocide will be referred to globally as the Genocide against the Tutsi. “With all those precedents on commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda, it is absurd for Ms. Caroline to state that the Rwandan government, international community and the Rwandan embassy in The Hague commemoration is a manipulation and that it is done for political gains.” Revenge According to the embassy, Buisman used the platform as a revenge ground because she was last month asked to leave Rwandan territory after she lied to immigration authorities to gain entry into Rwanda. She entered under the guise of a tourist yet she was working as a lawyer after entering the country. Buisman arrived in Rwanda on May 9 using an East Africa Tourist Visa (EATV) obtained in Kenya. “She admitted to the court that she entered Rwanda as a tourist coming from Kenya on false grounds and did not report to emigration authorities to legalise her stay as a lawyer for Victoire Ingabire on duty, not a tourist. It was on this ground that she was asked to leave the country or to change her visa status,” reads the embassy statement. In December 2013, the Supreme Court sentenced Victoire to 15 years after being found guilty of inciting the masses to revolt against the government, forming armed groups to destabilise the country, and minimising the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The Dutch lawyer’s statement does not only anger survivors of the Genocide now living in the Netherlands but is also “an insult to the people of Netherlands who have vowed never to make Netherlands a safe haven for suspects or perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi and other crimes against humanity,” the statement said. A week later, she would appear at the Kigali Central Prison, requesting to see her client Ingabire. But prison officials declined her request as she had no appropriate credentials. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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CNLG blasts Dutch lawyer over Genocide remarks