Leon Mugesera, a genocide suspect deported from Canada pleaded French language should be used in his trial process since the constitution permits it.
He made his second appearance before the intermediate court of Nyarugenge.
This resulted into a hot debate on both sides of the suspect and the prosecutor.
“Leon Mugesera used Kinyarwanda in his lethal MRND sensitization in 1992. Kinyarwanda is his mother tongue. There is no concrete reason for him to plead in french’’ said Ndibwami Rugambwa, the prosecutor.
The prosecution council added saying “the constitutional law stipulates that the accused can be questioned in a language he/she understands, not the language of his choice.’’
Leon Mugesra says that speaking Kinyarwanda does not mean that he understands it fully.’’ In relation to law, Kinyarwanda has specific and complex legal terms used in court that I am not conversant with’’.
Mugesera asked the court to let him use French in his trial and be given the right to talk to his family and his lawyers.
The court is due to decide today (Tuesday) on Mugesera’s request. He requested Monday for another postponement of his trial in order to prepare his defence.
“I need an additional month to make sure that my defence team is complete, so as to ensure that I am fully and properly defended,” Mugesera told the court.
Mugesera is being assisted by a Rwandan lawyer Donat Mutunzi However, said his team was supposed to consist of six Canadians, two Rwandans and an American.
Speaking in French, Mugesera told court that he had not yet been questioned and did not yet know the allegations against him.
Prosecution has not questioned him following his refusal to respond in Kinyarwanda, the Rwandan language in which he delivered the 1992 speech.
“In the judicial and scientific fields, there are some terms I don’t understand in Kinyarwanda,” said Mugesera, arguing the right to be questioned in a language he understands.
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