STATEMENT OF ADAD BUREAU

ARUSHA – Nov. 28, 2007, 1 p.m. -- The Bureau of ADAD (Association des Avocats de la Defence), the ICTR-Defence Lawyers Association filed Briefs is requesting Amicus status, as have Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Criminal Defence Attorneys Association [ICDAA], in the “Rwanda transfer” cases.

Unlike the ICTY, the ICTR has not established a formal bar association as an organ of the Tribunal, as a result, ADAD is the only body capable of providing the Tribunal with the collective experience and viewpoint of the Defence at the ICTR. ADAD, alone, can provide the Chambers with specific examples from ICTR experience to assist the Chambers.

ADAD opposes transfer of ICTR cases to Rwanda because:

• Former ICTR Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte; former ICTR Prosecutor Michael Hourigan, QC; French Judge Bruguiere; and Spanish Judge Garcon have determined that the Rwanda’s President and leaders are subject to prosecution for crimes committed in 1994. The ADAD Bureau considers that this factor, alone, disqualifies Rwanda as the proper situs for any ICTR cases;

• The current and past prosecutions of Defence Team members by Rwanda for “minimization/denial of genocide” (while performing ICTR Defence functions) confirms that meaningful defence is not possible in Rwanda. The ADAD Bureau notes that ALL current members of defence teams are at risk for arrest by the Rwandan Government, which also disqualifies Rwanda as the proper situs for ICTR cases;

• The Rwandan Government, with assistance of the US/UK (according to former Chief Prosecutor Del Ponte) has withheld witnesses and evidence from the ICTR to influence ICTR investigations and indictments for its own benefit. The ADAD Bureau notes that Rwanda has violated ICTR Statute Article 28 which requires full-cooperation of the Tribunal, which further disqualifies Rwanda as the proper situs for ICTR cases;

• According to a former Prosecution witness Prof. Filip Reyntjens, the Rwandan Government is, and has been, creating false testimony, to shift blame for all crimes to the former Government/Military, when many of these crimes were actually committed by the RPF. The ADAD Bureau observes that this false testimony has deprived the ICTR Judges of complete, truthful information upon which to rule, which should disqualify Rwanda Rwanda as the proper situs for ICTR cases ab initio;

Whether the Chambers grants the requests to appear by other defence Amici be granted, or not, without specific evidence arising from specific events at the ICTR (which only ICTR defence teams have experienced) the ICTR Chambers will be forced to make the “transfer decision” in a factual vacuum. ADAD undertakes to work cooperatively with the Chambers and other Amici to assist the Chambers in every way consistent with out professional responsiblities. However, the issues raised in the ADAD Motion are much broader than just the “transfer issue” alone.

In March 2006, former RPF intelligence Officer Abdul Ruzibiza testified in Mil 1 that he was involved in the RPF assassination team that shot down the Habyarimana plane. In November 2006, former RPF Foreign Minister Ndagjimana, confirmed UNCHR reports from Sept. 1994 of massive RPF war crimes…which caused him resign and seek asylum in Nov. 1994.

In December 2006, following Judge Bruguiere’s issuance of warrants for RPF members and his recommendation that the ICTR charge Paul Kagame, members of the Defence have requested of the Chambers and the ICTR President that the ICTR suspend current proceedings, pending an investigation of suppression of evidence and manipulation of the Tribunal, and to extend the funding for the Tribunal to permit completion of full investigations into the crimes committed in Rwanda.

In March 2007, the Ntabakuze Team sent a dossier to the member-states of the Security Council, which included many documents confirming the misuse of the ICTR mandate by the Office of the Prosecutor and thus depriving the Chambers of relevant facts. In September 2007, the Hartmann book described how Chief Prosecutor Del Ponte was prevented from carrying out the mandate of the Tribunal due to interference by the Rwandan Government, and the governments of two members of the Security Council, the United States and the United Kingdom.

ADAD calls on the ICTR President and the Security Council to: Stop the Rwanda Prosecution of Leonidas Nshogoga; Stop ICTR Proceedings Pending Confirmation of the Manipulation of the Tribunal by Rwanda and other Governments; Stop Consideration of Any Transfer of Cases to Rwanda; Recognize that ICTR-Detainees are “political prisoners” of a process that, according former Prosecutor Del Ponte, as been thoroughly “politicized” by and through OTP-constructed “ RPF impunity” which must be eliminated now, if the ICTR legacy is not to suffer in lasting shame.

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