Nshogoza gets ten months in jail

ARUSHA- The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has sentenced former investigator for Defence, Leonidas Nshogoza to ten months in jail. Nshogoza walked to freedom yesterday since the court gave credit to the time he spent at the UN detention facility since February 2008. In particular, the accused had been charged with two counts of contempt of court and two other counts of attempt to commit criminal acts punishable as contempt of the tribunal. In a fully packed courtroom that included Nshogoza’s former colleagues at the ICTR, Judge Khalida Rachid Khan ruled that the chamber only found the accused guilty of count one; contempt of the tribunal. “Considering all the relevant circumstances, for contempt of the tribunal, the chamber sentences Leonidas Nshogoza to ten month imprisonment,” she ruled. “The chamber notes that Nshogoza has been detained in custody at the UN Detention Facility (UNDF) since February 2008. In consequence, the chamber directs that Nshogoza be released from the custody of the tribunal, forthwith, unless he is lawfully held,” judge Khan added. Moments after the ruling, a jubilant Nshogoza was seen hugging his wife and friends outside the courtroom. He was arrested trying to bribe witnesses to give wrong testimonies in the trial of former minister Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda in whose trial he worked as defence investigator. Kamuhanda has since been sentenced to life imprisonment and was late last year transferred to Mali from where he is serving his sentence. Judge Khan however said that the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accused made payments to witnesses GAA and A7/GEX, and that he offered them food and drinks. “Prosecution failed to prove that the payments were made with the intent to bribe or otherwise interfere with the witnesses,” the judge. The judge added that prosecution failed to pin Nshogoza on the count of attempt to commit acts punishable as contempt of the tribunal, saying that there was no proof that the accused sought false testimony from witness BUC. Born in 1961 in Muhanga, Southern Province, Nshogoza surrendered to the Tanzania-based UN court in February 2008. He was immediately placed under ICTR custody. Ends

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Nshogoza gets ten months in jail