WITNESSES ALLEGE MUHIMANA DID NOT RAPE

August 17, 2004 - (Hirondelle News Agency) Defence witnesses in the trial involving the former counsellor of Gishyita sector (Gishyita commune, Kibuye province), Mika Muhimana, on Tuesday told the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) that they did not witness Muhimana raping girls or women.

The witnesses code-named DA, DC and DD to protect their identities, all recalled similar information that they did not witness Muhimana in the sites where atrocities took place.

They also said they did not witness rapes taking place in Mubuga parish (Gishyita sector), in homes and in the hills of Bisesero in Kibuye (Western Rwanda) where they had taken refuge on different occasions.

DC and DD testified that there was an attack on the 14th of April, 1994 while at the Mubuga Parish and they heard girls screaming. "Later the girls were killed but not raped," said DC.

DD testified that he "saw the bodies of the girls who belonged to a religious sect with my own eyes when I passed by the cemetery during broad day light but I did not see their bodies disembowelled." He added that he "did not hear that they were raped".

DA, a woman, also recalled "no girls were raped at Mubuga Parish church where I took refuge with many other refugees". Witnesses DA and DD further informed the court that a "Mayor known as Sikubwabo was often seen among the assailants".

The indictment alleges that Muhimana was in the company of the Mayor between the 14th and 15th of April, 1994, and they looted food donated by humanitarian organizations for refugees seeking shelter at Mubuga Catholic church.

But witness DD said, "If Muhimana was present at the site he would have been beside Mayor Charles Sikubwabo giving orders. If he was there I would have seen him".

Only one witness, DC, claimed to have seen Muhimana "standing and doing nothing" while Sikubwabo was acting as ring leader of food looting at Mubuga Parish.

Witness DD testified that after further attacks by assailants at Mubuga Parish church, he fled to the hills of Bisesero in Kibuye. While in the hills, he said he never saw Muhimana nor witnessed any Interahamwe raping. "Attackers rushed to kill and it would not have been possible for them to rape under those circumstances", said DD.

DC and DD also denied allegations that leaders took stock of the refugees in preparation for an attack.

The prosecution led by Charles Adeogun-Phillips from Nigeria, cross-examined DA and DD, who repeated what they said during their examination in chief.

Muhimana, whose trial started on March 29, 2004, is the first municipal Councillor brought before the Tribunal. He has been detained at the United Nations Detention Facility since November 8,1999.

The trial is taking place in Trial Chamber Three of the ICTR composed of Judge Khalida Rashid Khan of Pakistan (presiding), Lee Gaciuga Muthoga of Kenya and Emile Francis Short from Ghana.

From: http://allafrica.com/stories/200408180007.html