THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR RWANDA CASE NO. : ICTR-2001-73-T THE PROSECUTOR CHAMBER III OF THE TRIBUNAL v. PROTAIS ZIGIRANYIRAZO MONDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2005 1502H TRIAL Before the Judges: Inés Monica Weinberg de Roca, Presiding Lee Gacuiga Muthoga Khalida Rachid Khan For the Registry: Mr. Constant K. Hometowu Mr. Sheha Mussa For the Prosecution: Mr. Hassan Bubacar Jallow Mr. Wallace Kapaya Ms. Gina Butler Mr. Iskander Ismail For the Accused Protais Zigiranyirazo: Mr. John Philpot Mr. Peter Zaduk Court Reporters: Ms. Ann Burum Ms. Sherri Knox Ms. Jean Baigent Ms. Judith Baverstock ZIGIRANYIRAZO MONDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2005 I N D E X WITNESS For the Prosecution: ZUHDI JANBEK Examination-in-chief by Mr. Kapaya .......................................................................................................... 21 EXHIBITS Exhibit No. P. 1E and P. 1F ....................................................................................................................... 25 Exhibit No. P. 2 .......................................................................................................................................... 26 ANN BURUM - ICTR - TRIAL CHAMBER III - page i ZIGIRANYIRAZO MONDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2005 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 MADAM PRESIDENT: 3 Mr. Jallow. 4 MR. JALLOW: 5 Thank you very much. If it pleases the Court, My Lords, the Accused who is -- stands before us today, 6 Protais Zigiranyirazo, is charged with conspiracy to commit genocide, with genocide or, in the 7 alternative, complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity by extermination and murder, by virtue of 8 his responsibility under Article 6(1) of the statute of the Tribunal. 9 10 Your Honours, genocide and conspiracy to commit it and complicity in it are never an act of a single 11 individual but one of several, even many, individuals. This particular article obliges us, the Prosecution, 12 to prove individual responsibility of the Accused, and this we expect to do through the witnesses whom 13 we will be presenting before the Court. 14 15 As Mr. Philpot said, we have been agreeing on quite a number of things, and we hope we will be able to 16 agree furthermore on a number of things yet to come. 17 18 The Prosecutor will lead evidence to prove that the Accused, Protais Zigiranyirazo, agreed with his 19 fellow Akazu members, members of the MRND, CDR party officials, and with Interahamwe leaders, 20 such as Wellars Banzi and Leon Mugesera, also with military officers, such as Major Protais Mpiranya, 21 Colonel Théoneste Bagosora, and Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva, to commit genocide. 22 23 We will establish that the Accused is individually or pursuant to a joint criminal enterprise or a joint 24 criminal venture responsible for killing or causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the Tutsi 25 ethnic group in Gisenyi préfecture as well as in Kigali city, and we will establish further that he 26 committed these crimes with the intent of destroying, in whole or in part, the Tutsi, as such, a group. 27 28 He's also accused of extermination and murder as crimes against humanity. And, in this respect, the 29 Prosecution will establish that the Accused was individually, or through a joint criminal enterprise, 30 responsible for attacks on civilians, again in Gisenyi and Kigali city, as part of a widespread -- 31 widespread or systematic attack on civilians. 32 33 The evidence we propose to lead will establish that the Accused planned, ordered, instigated, or 34 otherwise aided and abetted the commission of these crimes, that, indeed, he was an indispensable 35 link in the joint criminal enterprise to commit these crimes with which he stands charged, that he was an 36 important cog in the wheels of this joint criminal enterprise. 37 ANN BURUM - ICTR - TRIAL CHAMBER III - page 1 ZIGIRANYIRAZO MONDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2005 1 Who is Protais Zigiranyirazo? We know that he was commonly known as Monsieur Z in Rwanda. He 2 was born on 2nd February 1958 in Giciye commune , Gisenyi préfecture, which is in the Bushiru region. 3 4 He was a member of parliament from 1969 to 1973, and he served in the second republic MRND 5 government of President Juvénal Habyarimana. He served as préfet of Kibuye from 1973 to 1974. He 6 was also subsequently then préfet of Ruhengeri from 1974 to 1989. 7 8 He returned to Rwanda in 1993, where he resided in Kigali, successively in Kigali, in Giciye, and 9 Gisenyi, interchangeably doing business and politics. 10 11 In July 1994 he fled Rwanda, not, however, before engaging in the acts for which he stands indicted 12 today. The Accused, Protais Zigiranyirazo, former Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana, and his 13 spouse, Agathe Kanziga, originated from Giciye commune , Gisenyi préfecture in Bushiru region. 14 15 The Accused is Agathe Kanziga's brother, hence the brother-in-law of former President Habyarimana. 16 He is the eldest child in a family of four, who include Colonel Elie Sagatwa and Agathe Kanziga. 17 Seraphin Rwamakuba -- Rwabukumba is their cousin. 18 19 Many have or may have heard about the Akazu during President Habyarimana's reign in Rwanda. 20 Today before this Court is Mr. Zigiranyirazo, reputed by most people to have been a very prominent 21 member of the shadowy group which was referred to as the Akazu . Many of the witnesses you will 22 hear in this trial will tell you that, if they had the misfortune of meeting Mr. Zigiranyirazo during the 23 genocide, they would have had to do anything that was demanded of them by him, such was his 24 influence. 25 26 But what was the Akazu -- sorry -- it is -- it is a term that means "small house" or "little hut" in 27 Kinyarwanda. The Akazu was the core of the concentric webs of political, economic, and military 28 muscle and patronage that came to be known as Hutu Power. Witnesses for the Prosecution will testify 29 that the Akazu comprised the family of Agathe Kanziga, spouse of President Habyarimana, and a tight 30 circle referred to as Le clan de Madame , a tight circle of extended family members and persons who 31 were bound by intermarriage or economic ties. They hailed conclusively -- almost conclusively from 32 Rwanda's northern préfecture of Gisenyi as well as Ruhengeri, and this is what was known as the 33 Bushiru region. 34 35 In addition to the family of Agathe Habyarimana, there were others, such as Felicien Kabuga, 36 Jean Bosco Barayagwiza, then Théoneste Bagosora, and many high-ranking military officers from 37 Bushiru, who advocated Hutu Power and were MRND/CDR hardliners. ANN BURUM - ICTR - TRIAL CHAMBER III - page 2 ZIGIRANYIRAZO MONDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2005 1 The Court will hear how political and financial power in Rwanda was consolidated with the Akazu . We 2 will hear evidence that the political and the economic interests of the Bushiru and MRND/CDR 3 Hutu Power hardliners could not be compromised. Witnesses will depose that during Habyarimana's 4 Rwanda, very few individuals could get the high position of -- in government without the approval of the 5 family of Agathe Kanziga. You will hear witnesses testify that Habyarimana changed government policy 6 and government decisions which did not accord with the wishes of the Akazu , that much influence its 7 members wielded in Rwanda at the time. 8 9 There is no doubt that genocide was committed in Rwanda between April and mid-July 1994 and that 10 crimes against humanity involving widespread or systematic massacres of Tutsi civilians and Hutu 11 moderates considered as accomplices of the RPF occurred in Rwanda between the period April to 12 mid-July 1994. This genocide and the crimes against humanity were geared towards the destruction 13 and the extermination of the members of the Tutsi ethnic group, who were specifically targeted because 14 of their ethnic origin and because the Tutsi population in Rwanda was perceived as accomplices of the 15 RPF. 16 17 You will -- the Court will hear evidence that the MRND and its political affiliates, the MDR, the CDR, and 18 the PSD, organised youth militia groups. These political parties provided military training and arms, 19 including firearms, for members of their groups, who then used them to kill Tutsi civilians in 1994. After 20 6th April 1994, these militia groups were incorporated into a civil self-defence programme which was 21 turned into a killing machine by Kambanda's interim government. The desire to end the Hutu-Tutsi 22 political conflict led to the negotiations of the Arusha Accords, which were concluded on -- which was 23 concluded on 4th August 1993. The accords provided for power-sharing between the MRND, the 24 opposition parties, the Rwanda armed forces, and the Rwandan Patriotic Front, the RPF. However, the 25 Accused, Mr. Zigiranyirazo, and the entire Akazu clique, as well as other high-level government and 26 party officials, considered the Arusha Accords as running counter to the interests of the Hutu-dominant 27 class. 28 29 The MRND, the MDR, and the CDR, led by a Hutu from the Bushiru region, organised a widespread 30 awareness campaign to start up a real Hutu Power ideology among the Hutu population prior to the 31 implementation of the accords. And the witnesses we will call before this Court will tell you that 32 Zigiranyirazo, the Accused, attended and participated in these sensitisation meetings in his area. 33 34 In a speech he made in Ruhengeri in November 1992, President Habyarimana dismissed the accords -- 35 the Arusha Accords as scraps of paper, incapable of bringing peace to Rwanda. Little more than a 36 week later Leon Mugesera, an MRND party official in Gisenyi, made another rousing, much-criticised 37 speech in Kabaya, where he called upon his countrymen to send the Tutsi back to Abyssinia by the ANN BURUM - ICTR - TRIAL CHAMBER III - page 3 ZIGIRANYIRAZO MONDAY, 3 OCTOBER 2005 1 shortest route.