The newest witness in the Felicien Kabuga trial has told the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) that the wealthy businessman was an active participant in key rallies that spread hate speech in the build-up to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. ALSO READ: Kabuga provided training field for interahamwe militia, says witness Code-named KAB053 for safety reasons, the female witness testified to The Hague-based court on Wednesday, February 22. She is a survivor of the genocide from the Musave areas of Kimironko in the City of Kigali. ALSO READ: Witness pins Kabuga on inciting Interahamwe to “clear the bushes” In her testimony, she said she saw Kabuga on television on two occasions, first in 1992 during a rally in Gisenyi (current Rubavu) where Leon Mugesera spoke. Mugesera, an academic who was a member of the MRND Party, was sentenced to life in prison after having been convicted of playing a big role in the genocide, where he invited masses to rise up and commit atrocities. In 1993, the witness also saw Kabuga in a rally in Ruhengeri (current Musanze) where former President Juvenal Habyarimana took part and pledged to buy uniforms for the Interahamwe militia. The message was the same: to kill the Tutsi, read a public summary presented to the court by one of the prosecutors. After these rallies, Tutsi were beaten and attacked by the Interahamwe in several areas including Bigogwe and Bugesera, it went on. The witness said she also saw Kabuga at an MRND rally at Musave school in March or at the end of February 1994. Since it was taking place in her native area, she attended the rally. While there, she saw musician Simon Bikindi and his group known as Irindiro entertaining the crowds with songs which called for the extermination of the Tutsi. At this rally, the witness says, she heard Kabuga being introduced as a major thunder of the MRND, a leader of the Interahamwe, and a dignitary of the party. He received a thunderous applause and a standing ovation. The witness also saw Mathieu Ngirumpatse, the MRND president, at the rally and heard him urge the Hutu to pull their efforts together and fight the Inkotanyi who are out of the country and their accomplices who were the Tutsi living in the country. Later on, Kabuga also took the floor and reiterated the anti-Tutsi message of the other speakers. She heard him pledge that: “I am here to give you support. The country is ours. The Inyenzi cannot take the country.” The trial will continue on Thursday.
