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31 August - 6 September 2015

Media Monitoring Report for Rwanda (31 August - 6 September 2015)
Posted on September 11, 2015

Compiled by Berta Fürstová

Report content

  1. Ntaganda trial
  2. Kagame criticized international justice for being „selective“
1. Ntaganda trial
Private website

KT Press, 2nd September 2015 “Ntaganda case trial kicks off, amidst controversy” by Claudia Gasana

  • The trial with former Rwandan-Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda started on September 2, 2015 before the International Criminal Court, despite controversy of whether the suspect is Rwandan or Congolese.
  • Prosecutors have collected 8,000 pages of evidence and plan to call 80 witnesses – 13 of them experts and the rest victims. The first witness is due to be called on September 15.
  • Ntaganda, the founder of the M23 rebel group that was defeated by the Congolese army in 2013 after an 18-month insurgency in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu region, is accused of leading a November 2002 attack on the town of Mongbwalu that left 200 villagers dead.
  • He faces at least 18 charges, including murder, rape and sexual slavery.
  • His lawyer Stephane Bourgon said his client is ready to prove his innocence.
2. Kagame criticized international justice for being „selective“
Private news agency

KT Press, 4th September 2015 “Kagame punches holes in “biased” international justice” by Dan Ngabonziza

  • At the occasion of launching the 2015/2016 judicial year, President Paul Kagame strongly criticized “selective international justice that targets some and spares others.”
  •  “We must continue to reject things like universal jurisdiction that serves political ends,” Kagame told judges and prosecutors. “The meaning of universal justice means it applies to me and you, it can’t be universal if it only applies to me,” he added.
  • Kagame said international courts continue to target people from weak nations and keep hands off those from powerful nations. “The current world order has made people get used to saying that some people are more equal than others, but Rwanda should not belong to those who think they are less equal,” Kagame stressed.
  •  “We will not accept to be manipulated by western countries sheltering genocide fugitives for political interests,” Kagame closed.
 
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