Rwanda's former prime minister Jean Kambanda on Tuesday told the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) he felt he was "forced" to sign his guilty plea agreement with the prosecution, the independent Hirondelle news agency reported. Addressing the Appeals Court, he said that although he did not reject the statements he had made, he completely rejected the "context" in which the plea agreement was signed. "I never felt bound by these documents," he said. "They were documents made by the prosecution for the prosecution." "I felt that I was all alone, with no recourse," he added. "I was forced to sign." Kambanda said he had been denied the lawyer of his choice, arguing that his lawyer was "not a real lawyer" but a friend of the deputy prosecutor and that all his avenues of recourse had been exhausted. Kambanda was sentenced to life imprisonment on 4 September, 1998 after pleading guilty to all charges, including genocide and conspiracy to commit genocide.
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