Share & more
The so-called "media trial" at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was due to resume on Monday with the opening of the defence case, an ICTR statement said.
The accused are the former director of Radio-Television des Mille Collines (RTLM), Ferdinand Nahimana; former politician and RTLM board member Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza; and the former editor of the defunct newspaper 'Kangura', Hassan Ngeze.
They are accused of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, and complicity in genocide. Ngeze also faces one count of crime against humanity and Bayaragwiza two counts of violations of the 1949 Geneva Convention for the Protection of War Victims, the statement said.
The defence was due to submit that the prosecution had failed to set out a sufficient case to sustain a conviction. If those submissions were successful in relation to all, or any, of the counts in the indictments, an acquittal with regard to those counts would be ordered. If the motions failed, the trial would proceed with the hearing of evidence on behalf of the accused, the statement said.
Analysts expect that the defence will argue that freedom of expression is on trial.
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
