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Defence lawyer slams ICTR

    NAIROBI

    The defence lawyer of a genocide suspect at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has launched a blistering attack on the court’s “inefficiency” in translating documents for his client. The Hirondelle news agency recalled that the prosecution wanted to amend the indictment against Ferdinand Nahimana, former director of the Hutu extremist RTLM radio, by raising the number of charges from four to seven. Nahimana’s francophone lawyer Jean-Marie Biju-Duval complained that neither he nor his client were in a position to respond because he had received the translations too late. “I understand why my Anglo-Saxon colleagues adapt better to the procedures of this tribunal,” he said. “They have a centuries-old tradition of being phlegmatic. Not me.” The tribunal has ordered an investigation into the translation issue.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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