Court hears Mugesera’s appeal

Prosecution during pre-trial, yesterday, prayed to High Court to reject the appeal filed by Genocide suspect, Leon Mugesera on grounds that he violated legal procedures while logging the litigation. Mugesera was in the High Court on Monday to appeal against a decision by the Nyarugenge Intermediate Court which denied him two more months to study his dossier and demand a complete file of his proceedings in Canada, from where he was extradited.Prosecutor Jean Bosco Mutangana told court, “…according to the law, a decision taken by the intermediate court before the beginning of the pre-trial is not appealed against. Mugesera cannot appeal against everything that doesn’t satisfy him.”“The law clearly states that such concern can be combined with the pre-trial verdict and appealed at the same time,” Mutangana told court.Judge Eugene Ndagijimana adjourned the hearing to Friday June 15 for the court to review the prosecution’s request. But earlier, Mugesera had argued that he was appealing against the ruling of the intermediate court because the prosecution had his dossier for three months and 24 days before it gave him a copy.“I was given only six days to study a 240 page document, analyse it and brainstorm with my lawyer; if we are to have equality before the law then I should be given more time, this is why I appealed,” Mugesera told the court.He added; “Also, Rwanda’s law of transfer of cases from abroad indicates that Rwanda has a right to obtain the dossiers worked on by foreign countries, in this case, I believe the prosecution has my Canada dossier which I would also like to have a copy of.”The Canada dossier is expected to be big, as it contains documents in all proceedings held in various courts as the suspect battled against his extradition for nearly 20 years, until he was finally brought in January this year. During proceedings at the High Court, the judge kept reminding Mugesera to stick to using Kinyarwanda since he was mixing, French, English, Latin, and Kinyarwanda.Also evident during the session, was the absence of his initial defence lawyer, Donat Mutunzi, in whose place was Felix Rudakemwa.Mugesera is accused of having delivered an incendiary speech which is said to have been critical in inciting and fuelling the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.In the speech, he propagated a theory that the Tutsi were not Rwandans, but rather foreigners who invaded the country from Ethiopia, where they should be sent by shortcut, via the River Nile.Consequently, tens of thousands were killed and thrown in different tributary rivers to the Nile, where thousands of bodies ended up on the shores of lake Victoria in Uganda.

National

Court hears Mugesera’s appeal