Men behind Rwandan genocide languish in Mali prison

[Koba]

Koulikoro (Mali) (AFP) - Stretching their legs in a sunkissed gravel prison courtyard in Mali, two of the architects of Rwanda's genocide serve out their sentences far from home, 20 years after leading the slaughter.

Theoneste Bagosora, bespectacled and sporting a gleaming pair of tennis shoes, cuts a far more serene figure than he did as the army chief described as "the Heinrich Himmler of Rwanda" who ordered an "apocalypse" which left 800,000 dead.
His cellmate Jean Kambanda's face is hidden by an enormous beard but he is still recognisable as the prime minister who incited one of the most extensive and brutal mobilisations of a population against its fellow countrymen ever seen.

More than a dozen Rwandan "genocidaires" are housed in their own unit of the prison in Koulikoro, a garrison town on the banks of the River Niger 57 kilometres (35 miles) downstream from Bamako.

Serving long or whole-life terms, most are old men and will never leave.
"They are very disciplined prisoners, they do not bother anyone and scrupulously respect the rules," says a warden supervising them.
View gallery

Theoneste Bagosora sits in the Rwanda International Criminal Tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania on Decembe …

A retired colonel in the Hutu extremist regime that seized power in 1994, Bagosora, now 72, took over the army and unleashed the notorious Interahamwe militia against the Tutsi population and moderate Hutus.

The rate of killing was far faster than the Holocaust of the Jews in World War II -- 800,000 Tutsis were slaughtered in just 100 days –- as Kambanda and his ministers toured the country urging on the murderers.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) found that Bagosora had spent years "preparing the apocalypse" and sentenced him in 2011 to 35 years in prison for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Kambanda was arrested in Kenya in 1997 and admitted genocide at his trial the following year after he was accused of handing out arms to militias knowing they would be used to massacre Tutsis.

Theoneste Bagosora gestures to one of his lawyers at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda …

Mali signed a deal with the tribunal in 1999, agreeing to become the first foreign country to provide prison cells for the convicts as a symbol of Malian support for African unity.
Other countries on the ICTR's list of willing hosts of convicted Rwandans include Italy, Benin, Swaziland, France and Sweden.

The first convicted Rwandans, including Kambanda, began arriving in Mali in 2001 and a second group of nine prisoners, including two former ministers, have been in the country since 2008 while Bagosora was sent there in 2012.

Kambanda and most of the others are serving life sentences but some have fixed terms of less than 20 years and Malian officials have voiced concerns in the past over what would become of them if they were released.

The Rwandans were originally held with local inmates in Bamako's central prison but the ICTR funded a facility specifically built for them in Koulikoro, where they are segregated from Malians in an air-conditioned cell block.
View gallery

Jean Kambanda adjusts the headphones during his trial at the UN war crimes court in The Hague on Oct …

The Rwandans, whose day-to-day expenses are covered by Mali, are entitled to receive visits while their meals are better than those served to other inmates and they receive $2 (1.5 euros) a day to buy newspapers.
Their unit boasts separate showers, a dining room and a well-appointed library, leading to complaints in the Rwandan media that the inmates are leading "lavish" lives.
- Genocide convicts free -

A member of the prison's management told AFP on a recent site visit that some of the inmates express regret for "what happened in Rwanda" while others demand "justice for all victims without exception", whether Tutsi and Hutu.
Few people in Koulikoro, a town of just over 40,000, are aware of their notorious guests.

Jean Kambanda speaks to the media at his headquarters in Gitarama on May 27, 1994

"I know they are here but I do not know if one day in this country they could live peacefully, because I have the impression that the hatred still exists between Hutu and Tutsi," said Gilbert Kone, a high school teacher in the town.

A handful of the prisoners have been freed after their sentences were reduced and have stayed on in Mali, not wanting to return to Rwanda.
One, released after more than 12 years, spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, saying he did not want to be "shot in the head".

"The path of reconciliation is long here... I am free today but I cannot go to Kigali because prison, if not death, awaits me there," he said.
He accused Rwanda's President Paul Kagame of wanting to "continue the domination of the Hutu majority by the Tutsi minority".

The Malian justice ministry told AFP it wouldn't get into "this debate" about Rwandan war criminals at large in Mali.
Amadou Sango, a spokesman for the prisons department, would say only that "if Mali is one of the countries selected to host ICTR convicts is because human rights are respected here."

 

[Koba]

Jmali mali mali Mali continue to remember those animals in a Malians prison...

 

[murutongore]

Jmali mali mali Mali continue to remember those animals in a Malians prison...

Ningekua kule Mali leo ningewawekea mkanda wa genocide as entertainment video.

 

[Gama]

ili uwaoneshe jinsi mlivopanga na kutekeleza mauaji kisha mkawabambikia kesi wao. sikuzenu zinahesabika

Ningekua kule Mali leo ningewawekea mkanda wa genocide as entertainment video.

 

[jMali]

The real story: source: Rwandan Ex-Prime Minister Kambanda: Inside Story of His Court Case. « Classified « Documents « The Proxy Lake

[h=2]Jean Kambanda, Convicted Without Trial[/h] "Jean Kambanda, Convicted Without Trial" is the title of Chapter 16 of the book A History of Political Trials by Dr. John Laughland.


Jean Kambanda's confession is widely considered to be the sole uncontested evidence that the former Rwandan government conspired and planned to commit a genocide against the Tutsis in 1994.


According to many ICTR defence counsel, the essential facts are that his confession is nothing but a miscarriage of justice, a world scandal and a shame for international justice.
Upon his arrest on the 18th of July 1997, the Prime Minister of Rwanda was never assigned a lawyer and, unlike other accused brought before the ICTR, he was not taken to appear before a judge on his arrest as required by the Tribunal's own Statute.


Instead, he was taken to the national capital of Tanzania, Dodoma, several hundred kilometres away from Arusha, where the International Tribunal is located.
He was kept incommunicado in a hotel for nine months. During those nine months he was denied the right to see a lawyer and was denied contact with his family or friends.


During those nine months former Canadian police officers working with the ICTR continuously questioned him, and every day threatened him and his family if he did not cooperate, behaviour that can only be described as psychological torture.

"[The] officer responsible for administering a "good dose of torture" to Mr. Kambanda was Pierre Duclos. Pierre Duclos is well known in his country, Canada. He was accused of perjury, fabricating evidence and obstructing justice in relation to the aborted trial of the Matticks brothers, a family involved in organized crime in Montreal.
Yes, the ICTR hires individuals with a sulphurous past. In fact, the Canadian prosecutor Louise Arbour, whose record as prosecutor is also a dark one, was responsible for hiring Pierre Duclos" according to Patrick Mbeko, a Canadian of Congolese origin, in his article: Rwanda: "Genocide of Tutsis", The Biggest Lie of The Century.
​

According to our sources inside ICTR Tribunal, Mr Jean Kambanda was told every day that if he did not sign some sort of confession, his life was at risk and that of his family.
He endured this for 9 months but then finally gave in and agreed to sign a document in which he stated simply that he accepted responsibility for his government's actions in 1994 in his role of prime minister.


Many ICTR lawyers and staff categorically affirm that Mr Jean Kambanda did not confess to genocide. He did not think that his government had done anything wrong in 1994. (see Jean Kambanda's Statement from Prison)


The document he signed, he was told, (English is not his first language) stated simply that he accepted political responsibility for whatever his government did during 1994. He did not understand the document he was about to sign stated that his government had committed genocide.
Remember, up to this stage, he had no access to a lawyer, was not told he had the right to remain silent and did not even know the charges against him nor the evidence the ICTR claimed to have.
However, once he signed that document, he was finally taken to Arusha to appear before a judge and then was assigned a lawyer. However, he was not told that the lawyer he was assigned was the best friend of the Prosecutor in charge of his case.


This lawyer then tricked him into agreeing to plead guilty. He thought he was only pleading "guilty" to political responsibility" for any actions his government took during the events of 1994 and was not a confession to a criminal act as such and he did not understand it to be a confession to war crimes or genocide.


His assigned lawyer,and friend of the prosecutor never discussed with him the events of 1994, whether any crimes had been committed and whether or not he had a defence nor did he advise the judges of the circumstances of Mr. Kambanda's detention and violation of his rights and psychological pressures placed on him.


The prosecutor promised Mr. Kambanda that he would receive a 12 year sentence if he made a plea of guilty based on the document he had signed. However the day he appeared in court and made the plea the judges gave him a life sentence without any hearing on the sentence and in violation of the agreement the prosecutor had made.
He then spent the next couple of years pressing to be allowed to withdraw his plea as it was made under duress, in violation of his rights and by trickery.


Finally in 2001 he was allowed to appear before a panel of judges to argue that the plea should be rescinded and he should be given a trial in which he could present a defence and tell the wolrd what happened in Rwanda in 1994.
We have managed to speak to some ICTR Defence lawyers who were in the courtroom that day and watched the proceedings. They all recall how it was disgusting to watch what how he was treated.


The prosecution counsel appearing in the "court" that day was also a Canadian. Kambanda told the judges the facts of his arrest and detention and how he was manipulated into signing the "confession" document.
He stated repeatedly that neither he nor his government were responsible for planning or organising or conducting a genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda and he never intended to plead guilty to that nor understood that he had.
Mr. Kambanda demanded the right to a trial, the right to speak and the opportunity to tell the world what had really happened. But the Canadian prosecutor questioned him over and over asking simply "But you signed this document, did you not?"

Kambanda would reply, "yes, but you're not listening to what I am saying as to how I came to sign that document." Then the same question was put-"You signed it?" And so on. At the end of the day they refused to allow him to withdraw his plea and he was taken away and silenced.


Why did they do this? Because it was clear to them that if he was allowed a trial he was in a position to tell the world what had really happened and it would be a disaster for the RPF and the US and UK that control the tribunal. They could not allow him to talk so they shut him up.
[h=2]The ICTR needed to justify its existence and a reason for a second mandate.[/h] In his article titled "Main Achievements of the ICTR", published in International Criminal Justice Journal of September 2005, Judge Erick Mose, former president of the ICTR, justifies the role of the ICTR stating that "During the first mandate (1995^1999), the Tribunal delivered ground-breaking judgments concerning genocide, such as Akayesu and Kambanda".


Since then many prisoners have refused to plead guilty and have insisted on trials. The accused used these trials especially the MIlitary I and Military II trials to bring out the truth the truth about the 4 year war in Rwanda and that in fact there was no government-sponsored genocide or planning of one against the Tutsis and that most of the accusations are false and that the RPF committed most of the atrocities.


In 2003, Jean Kambanda made a statement as to what his true position was and that statement was later made an exhibit in the MIlitary II trial involving the chiefs of staff of the Rwandan Army and Gendarmerie. In his position, Jean Kambanda states:

"16. I also swear also that the spread of trouble over the entire Rwandan territory was not caused by the government or by the FAR. The infiltrators of the RPF are responsible for that. We succeeded in capturing their plans, the names of their agents, and their arms caches in Kigali, Bisesero, Kibungo, etc. The mass graves dug deep by the accomplices of the RPF were discovered in many places. The terrorised population knew of this and considered it as a threat to their lives. The government, I at the head, never stopped to explain to the population that they cannot confuse the Tutsi and the RPF and that their accomplices must be arrested and brought before the authorities."
​

As this excerpt reveal, Jean Kambanda was set up and silenced so that the truth about what happened could not come out. But now it has.

Now ex-Prime Minister Kambanda is rotting in prison in Mali, without trial, without a voice. His case deserves to be known by all Rwandans and, in fact, by all Africans who care for justice.

 

[murutongore]

The real story: source: Rwandan Ex-Prime Minister Kambanda: Inside Story of His Court Case. « Classified « Documents « The Proxy Lake

Jean Kambanda, Convicted Without Trial

"Jean Kambanda, Convicted Without Trial" is the title of Chapter 16 of the book A History of Political Trials by Dr. John Laughland.


Jean Kambanda's confession is widely considered to be the sole uncontested evidence that the former Rwandan government conspired and planned to commit a genocide against the Tutsis in 1994.


According to many ICTR defence counsel, the essential facts are that his confession is nothing but a miscarriage of justice, a world scandal and a shame for international justice.
Upon his arrest on the 18th of July 1997, the Prime Minister of Rwanda was never assigned a lawyer and, unlike other accused brought before the ICTR, he was not taken to appear before a judge on his arrest as required by the Tribunal's own Statute.


Instead, he was taken to the national capital of Tanzania, Dodoma, several hundred kilometres away from Arusha, where the International Tribunal is located.
He was kept incommunicado in a hotel for nine months. During those nine months he was denied the right to see a lawyer and was denied contact with his family or friends.


During those nine months former Canadian police officers working with the ICTR continuously questioned him, and every day threatened him and his family if he did not cooperate, behaviour that can only be described as psychological torture.

"[The] officer responsible for administering a "good dose of torture" to Mr. Kambanda was Pierre Duclos. Pierre Duclos is well known in his country, Canada. He was accused of perjury, fabricating evidence and obstructing justice in relation to the aborted trial of the Matticks brothers, a family involved in organized crime in Montreal.
Yes, the ICTR hires individuals with a sulphurous past. In fact, the Canadian prosecutor Louise Arbour, whose record as prosecutor is also a dark one, was responsible for hiring Pierre Duclos" according to Patrick Mbeko, a Canadian of Congolese origin, in his article: Rwanda: "Genocide of Tutsis", The Biggest Lie of The Century.
​

According to our sources inside ICTR Tribunal, Mr Jean Kambanda was told every day that if he did not sign some sort of confession, his life was at risk and that of his family.
He endured this for 9 months but then finally gave in and agreed to sign a document in which he stated simply that he accepted responsibility for his government's actions in 1994 in his role of prime minister.


Many ICTR lawyers and staff categorically affirm that Mr Jean Kambanda did not confess to genocide. He did not think that his government had done anything wrong in 1994. (see Jean Kambanda's Statement from Prison)


The document he signed, he was told, (English is not his first language) stated simply that he accepted political responsibility for whatever his government did during 1994. He did not understand the document he was about to sign stated that his government had committed genocide.
Remember, up to this stage, he had no access to a lawyer, was not told he had the right to remain silent and did not even know the charges against him nor the evidence the ICTR claimed to have.
However, once he signed that document, he was finally taken to Arusha to appear before a judge and then was assigned a lawyer. However, he was not told that the lawyer he was assigned was the best friend of the Prosecutor in charge of his case.


This lawyer then tricked him into agreeing to plead guilty. He thought he was only pleading "guilty" to political responsibility" for any actions his government took during the events of 1994 and was not a confession to a criminal act as such and he did not understand it to be a confession to war crimes or genocide.


His assigned lawyer,and friend of the prosecutor never discussed with him the events of 1994, whether any crimes had been committed and whether or not he had a defence nor did he advise the judges of the circumstances of Mr. Kambanda's detention and violation of his rights and psychological pressures placed on him.


The prosecutor promised Mr. Kambanda that he would receive a 12 year sentence if he made a plea of guilty based on the document he had signed. However the day he appeared in court and made the plea the judges gave him a life sentence without any hearing on the sentence and in violation of the agreement the prosecutor had made.
He then spent the next couple of years pressing to be allowed to withdraw his plea as it was made under duress, in violation of his rights and by trickery.


Finally in 2001 he was allowed to appear before a panel of judges to argue that the plea should be rescinded and he should be given a trial in which he could present a defence and tell the wolrd what happened in Rwanda in 1994.
We have managed to speak to some ICTR Defence lawyers who were in the courtroom that day and watched the proceedings. They all recall how it was disgusting to watch what how he was treated.


The prosecution counsel appearing in the "court" that day was also a Canadian. Kambanda told the judges the facts of his arrest and detention and how he was manipulated into signing the "confession" document.
He stated repeatedly that neither he nor his government were responsible for planning or organising or conducting a genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda and he never intended to plead guilty to that nor understood that he had.
Mr. Kambanda demanded the right to a trial, the right to speak and the opportunity to tell the world what had really happened. But the Canadian prosecutor questioned him over and over asking simply "But you signed this document, did you not?"

Kambanda would reply, "yes, but you're not listening to what I am saying as to how I came to sign that document." Then the same question was put-"You signed it?" And so on. At the end of the day they refused to allow him to withdraw his plea and he was taken away and silenced.


Why did they do this? Because it was clear to them that if he was allowed a trial he was in a position to tell the world what had really happened and it would be a disaster for the RPF and the US and UK that control the tribunal. They could not allow him to talk so they shut him up.
The ICTR needed to justify its existence and a reason for a second mandate.

In his article titled "Main Achievements of the ICTR", published in International Criminal Justice Journal of September 2005, Judge Erick Mose, former president of the ICTR, justifies the role of the ICTR stating that "During the first mandate (1995^1999), the Tribunal delivered ground-breaking judgments concerning genocide, such as Akayesu and Kambanda".


Since then many prisoners have refused to plead guilty and have insisted on trials. The accused used these trials especially the MIlitary I and Military II trials to bring out the truth the truth about the 4 year war in Rwanda and that in fact there was no government-sponsored genocide or planning of one against the Tutsis and that most of the accusations are false and that the RPF committed most of the atrocities.


In 2003, Jean Kambanda made a statement as to what his true position was and that statement was later made an exhibit in the MIlitary II trial involving the chiefs of staff of the Rwandan Army and Gendarmerie. In his position, Jean Kambanda states:

"16. I also swear also that the spread of trouble over the entire Rwandan territory was not caused by the government or by the FAR. The infiltrators of the RPF are responsible for that. We succeeded in capturing their plans, the names of their agents, and their arms caches in Kigali, Bisesero, Kibungo, etc. The mass graves dug deep by the accomplices of the RPF were discovered in many places. The terrorised population knew of this and considered it as a threat to their lives. The government, I at the head, never stopped to explain to the population that they cannot confuse the Tutsi and the RPF and that their accomplices must be arrested and brought before the authorities."
​

As this excerpt reveal, Jean Kambanda was set up and silenced so that the truth about what happened could not come out. But now it has.

Now ex-Prime Minister Kambanda is rotting in prison in Mali, without trial, without a voice. His case deserves to be known by all Rwandans and, in fact, by all Africans who care for justice.

Hivi wewe huoni kama una fight a loosing battle? Hasn't it sunk into your dimwit grey matter yet? Hizi articles tumeshazisoma mara kibao and it is old news. All those people you are defending, you should have offered your services when they were on trial. Wenzako wamesha confess wanatumikia kifungo kwa hiyo sijui mantiki yako ya kuendelea kuleta hizi discarded stories from well know "interahamwe" websites.

You want, naweza kukupa tiketi uende kuwasalimia huko Mali..mr JMali (au ni Mrs)?

 

[jMali]

Hivi wewe huoni kama una fight a loosing battle? Hasn't it sunk into your dimwit grey matter yet? Hizi articles tumeshazisoma mara kibao and it is old news. All those people you are defending, you should have offered your services when they were on trial. Wenzako wamesha confess wanatumikia kifungo kwa hiyo sijui mantiki yako ya kuendelea kuleta hizi discarded stories from well know "interahamwe" websites.

You want, naweza kukupa tiketi uende kuwasalimia huko Mali..mr JMali (au ni Mrs)?

1. bado unaniita dimwit but you still reply to my comments, hivi mtu mwenye akili anaongeaje na kichaa kama yeye sio kichaa zaidi?

2. we una uwezo wa kulipa hata tiketi ya basi? maelezo yako tu unaonyesha ni wale watoto wa mama, kula kulala at over 30!

 

[murutongore]

1. bado unaniita dimwit but you still reply to my comments, hivi mtu mwenye akili anaongeaje na kichaa kama yeye sio kichaa zaidi?

2. we una uwezo wa kulipa hata tiketi ya basi? maelezo yako tu unaonyesha ni wale watoto wa mama, kula kulala at over 30!

Hahahaha! Nilianza kutafuta maisha hata kabla wazazi wako hawajaconjugate. I'm sure sasa hivi wana regret why they did it.

 

[jMali]

Hahahaha! Nilianza kutafuta maisha hata kabla wazazi wako hawajaconjugate. I'm sure sasa hivi wana regret why they did it.

wanao-regret ni wazazi wa kitutsi waliokuwa Rwanda, waliotoa watoto wao wajiunge na RPA uganda enzi zile!

 

[murutongore]

wanao-regret ni wazazi wa kitutsi waliokuwa Rwanda, waliotoa watoto wao wajiunge na RPA uganda enzi zile!

I can safely say on their behalf that regret, none. Pride, plenty. Waliomwaga damu tutawaenzi milele. Hao ni mashujaa walioikomboa nchi kutoka kwa vikaragosi vya wafaransa. Intsinzi bana b'urwanda. Kama uko rwanda, which i highly doubt, angalia itenerary ya viongozi wa dunia waliopo kigali leo. Na kwa taarifa yako, leo dunia nzima imetukumbuka na kombeleza nasi.

 

[JustDoItNow]

Hivi wewe huoni kama una fight a loosing battle? Hasn't it sunk into your dimwit grey matter yet? Hizi articles tumeshazisoma mara kibao and it is old news. All those people you are defending, you should have offered your services when they were on trial. Wenzako wamesha confess wanatumikia kifungo kwa hiyo sijui mantiki yako ya kuendelea kuleta hizi discarded stories from well know "interahamwe" websites.

You want, naweza kukupa tiketi uende kuwasalimia huko Mali..mr JMali (au ni Mrs)?

Sasa we mbona unataka kuwapelekea MALI video za genocide ambazo nazo zimepitwa na wakati. We ndo lofa kweli kweli.

 

[jMali]

I can safely say on their behalf that regret, none. Pride, plenty. Waliomwaga damu tutawaenzi milele. Hao ni mashujaa walioikomboa nchi kutoka kwa vikaragosi vya wafaransa. Intsinzi bana b'urwanda. Kama uko rwanda, which i highly doubt, angalia itenerary ya viongozi wa dunia waliopo kigali leo. Na kwa taarifa yako, leo dunia nzima imetukumbuka na kombeleza nasi.

1. Except i know a few of them personally. when they served their purpose wali-disappear not from the hands of Habyarimana, but at the hands of Nyamwasa and karegeya. pride my foot, you have no idea how these tutsis hate kagame!

 

[MGOSI132]

The real story: source: Rwandan Ex-Prime Minister Kambanda: Inside Story of His Court Case. « Classified « Documents « The Proxy Lake

Jean Kambanda, Convicted Without Trial

"Jean Kambanda, Convicted Without Trial" is the title of Chapter 16 of the book A History of Political Trials by Dr. John Laughland.


Jean Kambanda's confession is widely considered to be the sole uncontested evidence that the former Rwandan government conspired and planned to commit a genocide against the Tutsis in 1994.


According to many ICTR defence counsel, the essential facts are that his confession is nothing but a miscarriage of justice, a world scandal and a shame for international justice.
Upon his arrest on the 18th of July 1997, the Prime Minister of Rwanda was never assigned a lawyer and, unlike other accused brought before the ICTR, he was not taken to appear before a judge on his arrest as required by the Tribunal's own Statute.


Instead, he was taken to the national capital of Tanzania, Dodoma, several hundred kilometres away from Arusha, where the International Tribunal is located.
He was kept incommunicado in a hotel for nine months. During those nine months he was denied the right to see a lawyer and was denied contact with his family or friends.


During those nine months former Canadian police officers working with the ICTR continuously questioned him, and every day threatened him and his family if he did not cooperate, behaviour that can only be described as psychological torture.

"[The] officer responsible for administering a "good dose of torture" to Mr. Kambanda was Pierre Duclos. Pierre Duclos is well known in his country, Canada. He was accused of perjury, fabricating evidence and obstructing justice in relation to the aborted trial of the Matticks brothers, a family involved in organized crime in Montreal.
Yes, the ICTR hires individuals with a sulphurous past. In fact, the Canadian prosecutor Louise Arbour, whose record as prosecutor is also a dark one, was responsible for hiring Pierre Duclos" according to Patrick Mbeko, a Canadian of Congolese origin, in his article: Rwanda: "Genocide of Tutsis", The Biggest Lie of The Century.
​

According to our sources inside ICTR Tribunal, Mr Jean Kambanda was told every day that if he did not sign some sort of confession, his life was at risk and that of his family.
He endured this for 9 months but then finally gave in and agreed to sign a document in which he stated simply that he accepted responsibility for his government's actions in 1994 in his role of prime minister.


Many ICTR lawyers and staff categorically affirm that Mr Jean Kambanda did not confess to genocide. He did not think that his government had done anything wrong in 1994. (see Jean Kambanda's Statement from Prison)


The document he signed, he was told, (English is not his first language) stated simply that he accepted political responsibility for whatever his government did during 1994. He did not understand the document he was about to sign stated that his government had committed genocide.
Remember, up to this stage, he had no access to a lawyer, was not told he had the right to remain silent and did not even know the charges against him nor the evidence the ICTR claimed to have.
However, once he signed that document, he was finally taken to Arusha to appear before a judge and then was assigned a lawyer. However, he was not told that the lawyer he was assigned was the best friend of the Prosecutor in charge of his case.


This lawyer then tricked him into agreeing to plead guilty. He thought he was only pleading "guilty" to political responsibility" for any actions his government took during the events of 1994 and was not a confession to a criminal act as such and he did not understand it to be a confession to war crimes or genocide.


His assigned lawyer,and friend of the prosecutor never discussed with him the events of 1994, whether any crimes had been committed and whether or not he had a defence nor did he advise the judges of the circumstances of Mr. Kambanda's detention and violation of his rights and psychological pressures placed on him.


The prosecutor promised Mr. Kambanda that he would receive a 12 year sentence if he made a plea of guilty based on the document he had signed. However the day he appeared in court and made the plea the judges gave him a life sentence without any hearing on the sentence and in violation of the agreement the prosecutor had made.
He then spent the next couple of years pressing to be allowed to withdraw his plea as it was made under duress, in violation of his rights and by trickery.


Finally in 2001 he was allowed to appear before a panel of judges to argue that the plea should be rescinded and he should be given a trial in which he could present a defence and tell the wolrd what happened in Rwanda in 1994.
We have managed to speak to some ICTR Defence lawyers who were in the courtroom that day and watched the proceedings. They all recall how it was disgusting to watch what how he was treated.


The prosecution counsel appearing in the "court" that day was also a Canadian. Kambanda told the judges the facts of his arrest and detention and how he was manipulated into signing the "confession" document.
He stated repeatedly that neither he nor his government were responsible for planning or organising or conducting a genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda and he never intended to plead guilty to that nor understood that he had.
Mr. Kambanda demanded the right to a trial, the right to speak and the opportunity to tell the world what had really happened. But the Canadian prosecutor questioned him over and over asking simply "But you signed this document, did you not?"

Kambanda would reply, "yes, but you're not listening to what I am saying as to how I came to sign that document." Then the same question was put-"You signed it?" And so on. At the end of the day they refused to allow him to withdraw his plea and he was taken away and silenced.


Why did they do this? Because it was clear to them that if he was allowed a trial he was in a position to tell the world what had really happened and it would be a disaster for the RPF and the US and UK that control the tribunal. They could not allow him to talk so they shut him up.
The ICTR needed to justify its existence and a reason for a second mandate.

In his article titled "Main Achievements of the ICTR", published in International Criminal Justice Journal of September 2005, Judge Erick Mose, former president of the ICTR, justifies the role of the ICTR stating that "During the first mandate (1995^1999), the Tribunal delivered ground-breaking judgments concerning genocide, such as Akayesu and Kambanda".


Since then many prisoners have refused to plead guilty and have insisted on trials. The accused used these trials especially the MIlitary I and Military II trials to bring out the truth the truth about the 4 year war in Rwanda and that in fact there was no government-sponsored genocide or planning of one against the Tutsis and that most of the accusations are false and that the RPF committed most of the atrocities.


In 2003, Jean Kambanda made a statement as to what his true position was and that statement was later made an exhibit in the MIlitary II trial involving the chiefs of staff of the Rwandan Army and Gendarmerie. In his position, Jean Kambanda states:

"16. I also swear also that the spread of trouble over the entire Rwandan territory was not caused by the government or by the FAR. The infiltrators of the RPF are responsible for that. We succeeded in capturing their plans, the names of their agents, and their arms caches in Kigali, Bisesero, Kibungo, etc. The mass graves dug deep by the accomplices of the RPF were discovered in many places. The terrorised population knew of this and considered it as a threat to their lives. The government, I at the head, never stopped to explain to the population that they cannot confuse the Tutsi and the RPF and that their accomplices must be arrested and brought before the authorities."
​

As this excerpt reveal, Jean Kambanda was set up and silenced so that the truth about what happened could not come out. But now it has.

Now ex-Prime Minister Kambanda is rotting in prison in Mali, without trial, without a voice. His case deserves to be known by all Rwandans and, in fact, by all Africans who care for justice.

To give credibility to the contents, lets first see who is the author:
Dr.Laughgard has written extensively on international criminal justice, condemning the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague on the grounds that the UN Security Council resolution that created it was illegitimate (the Security Council acted ultra vires by creating it) and because he disagrees with its judicial procedures, e.g. admissibility of hearsay evidence.

WHAT ELSE DO U THINK THIS GUY who has been the Director of Studies at the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation in Paris.
Who has been a lecturer at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris.Who also holds the French post-doctoral degree, the 'habilitation,' for his work on sovereignty in international relations.

Just his background!shows me the reason why you are quoting him:
Kwanza haikubali international justice system, pili ana link kubwa na utawala wa Ufaransa ambao uliisaidia sana serikali ya wauaji:

 

[murutongore]

1. Except i know a few of them personally. when they served their purpose wali-disappear not from the hands of Habyarimana, but at the hands of Nyamwasa and karegeya. pride my foot, you have no idea how these tutsis hate kagame!

Really! Wewe mtu baki tu unaepitapita kigali mara moja ndio unajua zaidi. Kweli wewe ni d.wanzi.

 

[murutongore]

To give credibility to the contents, lets first see who is the author:
Dr.Laughgard has written extensively on international criminal justice, condemning the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague on the grounds that the UN Security Council resolution that created it was illegitimate (the Security Council acted ultra vires by creating it) and because he disagrees with its judicial procedures, e.g. admissibility of hearsay evidence.

WHAT ELSE DO U THINK THIS GUY who has been the Director of Studies at the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation in Paris.
Who has been a lecturer at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris.Who also holds the French post-doctoral degree, the 'habilitation,' for his work on sovereignty in international relations.

Just his background!shows me the reason why you are quoting him:
Kwanza haikubali international justice system, pili ana link kubwa na utawala wa Ufaransa ambao uliisaidia sana serikali ya wauaji:

Mkuu. Huyu jamaa haishi kutapatapa. Kila kukicha analeta hapa garbage news ambazo hazina mshiko hata kidogo. What I know for sure is that this guy's threads and post should be taken with a pinch of salt. Ana agenda yake binafsi lakini as the days go by hata wale waliokuwa wanam support naona wameshaancha. He is fighting a loosing battle.

 

[murutongore]

1. Except i know a few of them personally. when they served their purpose wali-disappear not from the hands of Habyarimana, but at the hands of Nyamwasa and karegeya. pride my foot, you have no idea how these tutsis hate kagame!

And that qualifies you to speak for all rwandans. Get a life. You are a nobody. Get it in you grey matter. Dimwit

 

[jMali]

And that qualifies you to speak for all rwandans. Get a life. You are a nobody. Get it in you grey matter. Dimwit

but yet here you are replying to my every thread!

 

[jMali]

Really! Wewe mtu baki tu unaepitapita kigali mara moja ndio unajua zaidi. Kweli wewe ni d.wanzi.

si bora mimi kuliko wewe ambaye probably huna hata idea kigali inafananaje, except from what you read on new times? The only authority point you have is that you are a tutsi baaaaaaaaas!

 

[ROBERT MICHAEL]

Sasa we mbona unataka kuwapelekea MALI video za genocide ambazo nazo zimepitwa na wakati. We ndo lofa kweli kweli.

Umeona kama hawa jamaa hawataishi na wenzao kwa amani kamwe,si kuna suala la umoja wa kitaifa huko kwao.

 

[jMali]

To give credibility to the contents, lets first see who is the author:
Dr.Laughgard has written extensively on international criminal justice, condemning the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague on the grounds that the UN Security Council resolution that created it was illegitimate (the Security Council acted ultra vires by creating it) and because he disagrees with its judicial procedures, e.g. admissibility of hearsay evidence.

WHAT ELSE DO U THINK THIS GUY who has been the Director of Studies at the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation in Paris.
Who has been a lecturer at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris.Who also holds the French post-doctoral degree, the 'habilitation,' for his work on sovereignty in international relations.

Just his background!shows me the reason why you are quoting him:
Kwanza haikubali international justice system, pili ana link kubwa na utawala wa Ufaransa ambao uliisaidia sana serikali ya wauaji:

kuna mtu yeyote anayeandika against the Rwandese regime na hana hatia? It is widely known kwamba Rwanda keeps special personal slander files on anyone that say anything against it to discredit them. Uliyoandika yote hayana mashiko, sasa huyu mzungu naye ni mhutu? genocidaire? au interahamwe?
Hiyo mahakama uliyosema huyu bwana haitaki je Rwanda inaitaka? is Rwanda part of the ICC? je, in your opinion what makes Rwanda kutokuwa part of the ICC? Mbona hoja zako unajiabisha mwenyewe?
Jibu hoja na facts zilizotolewa hapo juu. Mpaka sasa ICTR imeshindwa mashitaka yote ya "conspiracy to genocide" except kwa hii kesi moja ambayo ina-rely entirely on supposed kambanda's "confession" na ukweli wa mazingira ya "confession" yenyewe ndio hio, he was duped! Kwa vile huwezi kujibu unaanza kuattack watu personally.
Tumeshawazoea jinsi mnavyooperate, hamna kitu chochote cha kujibu, silaha yenu ni personal attacks. From rudasingwa, himbara, karegeya, nyamwasa, ingabire, you name them, hakuna hoja inayojibiwa just personal attacks!