Category: Justice

DRC to Release 2,000 Prisoners in January

{KINSHASA—Democratic Republic of Congo will release about 2,000 prisoners this month in a bid to calm political tension at the start of an election year and reduce overcrowding in jails, the justice minister said on Tuesday.}

Human rights groups welcomed the announcement but criticized the government for ignoring scores of prisoners they say have been detained for accusing President Joseph Kabila of trying to stay in power after his mandate ends in December.

Kabila became president in 2001, won disputed elections in 2006 and 2011 and has yet to outline his political future.

Justice Minister Alexis Thambwe said about 1,200 low-level offenders who have served at least one-quarter of their sentences and received approval from the prison director and prosecutor-general would be freed in the coming weeks.

About 800 additional prisoners are to be released following pardons granted last week by Kabila to all prisoners over 70 and who have not committed serious crimes and to members of a separatist religious movement.

Congo, Africa’s leading copper producer, has not had a peaceful transition of power since independence in 1960.

Millions died mainly of hunger and disease in a 1998-2003 civil war that drew in more than a half-dozen regional powers.

Thambwe said the measures were aimed at reducing tension before a presidential election scheduled for November and a national dialogue to be held in advance.

“We have taken [these] measures to calm the general situation ahead of the dialogue,” Thambwe told Reuters.

The dialogue has been delayed as most major opposition parties refuse to participate, dismissing it as a trap to extend Kabila’s mandate beyond the end of this year.

Congo’s jails are notoriously overcrowded and hold around 20,000 prisoners, according to the United Nations.

Dolly Idefo, executive director of Voice for the Voiceless, a Kinshasa-based human rights group, said the prisoner release did not go far enough.

“There are political prisoners throughout this country and people who have been detained without any [judicial] decision,” he said. The government denies it holds any political prisoners.

At least 40 were killed and hundreds more detained last January in protests against changes to the election code that critics said was a ploy to delay the presidential election.

Source:Voice of America:[DRC to Release 2,000 Prisoners in January->http://www.voanews.com/content/congo-to-release-2000-prisoner-in-january/3131603.html]

January 5, 2016
UN tribunal on Rwandan genocide formally closes – major role in fight against impunity

{The United Nations tribunal set up 21 years ago to judge those guilty for the genocide in Rwanda formally closed Thursday after delivering 45 judgments as part of the Organization’s efforts to stamp out impunity for crimes against humanity.
}

The Security Council, which set up the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on 8 November 1994 – the first time in history that an international tribunal delivered verdicts against those guilty of committing genocide – marked its closure with a press statement reaffirming its “strong commitment to justice and the fight against impunity.”

During its two decades of work in Arusha, Tanzania, the ICTR sentenced 61 people to terms of up to life imprisonment for their roles in the massacres which took place over the course of three months of bloodletting by Hutu extremists. Fourteen accused were acquitted and 10 others referred to national courts.

The indicted included high-ranking military and government officials, politicians, businessmen, as well as religious, militia and media leaders, and the court noted that “during the 100 bloody days… unimaginable violence overtook the country… a rate of killing four times greater than at the height of the Nazi Holocaust.”

With its sister tribunals like the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the ICTR played a pioneering role in setting up a credible international criminal justice system, producing a substantial body of jurisprudence on genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and individual and superior responsibility.

The ICTR was the first international tribunal to define rape in international criminal law and to recognize rape as a means of perpetrating genocide. In another landmark, it became the first international tribunal to hold members of the media responsible for broadcasts intended to inflame the public to commit acts of genocide.

The Council acknowledged “the substantial contribution of the ICTR to the process of national reconciliation and the restoration of peace and security, and to the fight against impunity and the development of international criminal justice, especially in relation to the crime of genocide.”

It stressed that the establishment of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in 2010 is essential to ensure that the ICTR’s closure does not leave the door open to impunity for the remaining fugitives, and called on all States to cooperate with the Mechanism and the Rwandan Government to arrest and prosecute the eight remaining ICTR-indicted fugitives.

During its two decades, the ICTR held 5,800 days of proceedings, indicted 93 people, issued 55 first-instance and 45 appeal judgements, and heard the “powerful accounts of more than 3,000 witnesses who bravely recounted some of the most traumatic events imaginable during ICTR trials,” ICTR President Judge Vagn Joensen told the Council earlier this month.

It became the first international tribunal to issue a judgement against a Head of Government since the Nuremburg and Tokyo Tribunals just after the Second World War, when it condemned former Interim Government Prime Minister Jean Kambanda to life imprisonment in 1998.

January 2, 2016
Pastor Jean Uwinkindi gets life sentence for role in genocide

{Jean Uwinkindi has been sentenced to life in prison for crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
}

He who is accused of leading and coordinating attacks against the Tutsis and once led the Kayenzi Pentecostal church in the rural outskirts of the capital Kigali, was convicted of crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the slaughter.”The court finds that there were killings of the Tutsi at Rwankeri and Kanzenze hills and that the attacks were led by Uwinkindi,” said Judge Kanyegeri Timothee.

Uwinkindi, 64, was arrested in Uganda in 2010 and the following year his case was referred from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in Tanzania, to the Rwandan national court system. It was the first such referral.
At the time, the ICTR said that legal reforms in Rwanda, including scrapping the death penalty for genocide suspects held in Tanzania or at large, had made the transfer possible.

The former pastor said he planned to appeal.

Another key suspect, Ladislas Ntaganzwa, who has a $5m (£3.2m) US bounty on him, was arrested two weeks ago in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
And a day earlier a German court sentenced another genocide perpetrator for his role in the 1994 genocide to life in prison after finding him guilty of actively participating in genocide.Onesphore Rwabukombe, who has lived in Germany since 2002, was a mayor in Rwanda at the time of the genocide.

December 31, 2015
Col Byabagamba, Rtd Brig Gen Frank Rusagara protest trial without defense team

{Col Byabagamba, Rtd Brig Gen Frank Rusagara and Francois Kabayiza yesterday appeared in court without their defense team.}

The last trial held on 14th December, 2015 was adjourned after that suspects pleaded that the phone numbers described in the document on which the investigations are based were not similar to numbers of suspects.

The trial had to be postponed to Monday 28th December, 2015 but no court was held since it was a public holiday.

The presiding judge, Maj. Bernard Hategekimana, adjourned the hearing since the suspects said they could not continue with the hearing without their defense team.
“I came here ready for the trial but I cannot see my lawyer. I don’t know whether the court informed him,” said Rusagara.

The presiding judge informed court that Supreme Court standing order rules that the trial has to be postponed to the following day in case it matches with the public holiday.

The prosecution said that no one can force a hearing from suspects without defense but added it is not good cause delays in the delivery of justice.

The hearing will resume on 5th through to 6thand 7th January,2016. In the next court hearing, suspects will have time to defend themselves.

Rusagara and Byabagamba requested court for more time to discuss with their lawyers claiming the two allotted hours are not enough.

Both Byabagamba and Rusagara are accused of inciting violence among the population and undermining the image of the country.

Byabagamba is separately accused of willingly concealing evidence in a criminal case and contempt of the national flag, and jointly charged with Rusagara of illegal possession of a fire arm.

Kabayiza, is also accused of illegal possession of firearm.

December 30, 2015
Murder convict Oscar Pistorius to appear on bail plea

{South African Olympian Oscar Pistorius is due in court to apply for bail after judges changed his manslaughter conviction to murder last week.}

Pistorius now faces a minimum 15-year jail sentence for murdering his girlfriend in 2013.

The 29-year-old killed Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day after shooting four times through a locked toilet door.

He is currently under house arrest after spending one year of his original five-year sentence in jail.

Pistorius, a six-time Paralympic gold medallist whose legs were amputated below the knee as a baby, made history by becoming the first amputee sprinter to compete at the Olympics, in 2012, running on prosthetic “blades”.

Dolus eventualis rule

He is expected to appear at the Pretoria High Court at 09:30 local time (07:30 GMT).

The BBC understands that the prosecution and defence lawyers have privately agreed that he should be allowed to continue to remain at his uncle’s house in Pretoria until he is formally sentenced next year, our South Africa correspondent Karen Allen reports.

The date for sentencing is also expected to be announced on Tuesday.

There may be mitigating circumstance which could see the duration of the sentence reduced, our correspondent adds.

Last week, South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein accepted prosecution arguments and ruled that the lower court did not correctly apply the concept of dolus eventualis – whether Pistorius knew that a death would be a likely result of his actions.
What next for Pistorius?

When will he be sentenced?

We don’t have a date yet, but it will be next year. The minimum sentence for murder is 15 years, but the judge does have the discretion to lower it.

Can he appeal?

Yes, but only if his lawyers are convinced that the appeal judges violated his constitutional rights. So it’s a high threshold, and hard to meet.

So is this the end of Pistorius’ professional athletics career?

Almost certainly. He’s 29, and will be past his prime by the time he is freed. It is also unlikely that advertisers would want to sponsor him, as the Pistorius brand is now tainted.

The making and unmaking of Oscar Pistorius

10 key moments from the trial
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Media captionJustice Leach announces the verdict that Pistorius is “guilty of murder”

Pistorius’ family gave a brief response, saying lawyers are studying the finding who will advise them on “options going forward”.

The panel of appeal judges described the case as “a human tragedy of Shakespearean proportions” in their written judgement.

Reading the unanimous ruling reached by the five judges, Justice Eric Leach said that having armed himself with a high-calibre weapon, Pistorius must have foreseen that whoever was behind the door might die, especially given his firearms training.

Pistorius always maintained that he believed there was an intruder in the house – but the judge said that the identity of the person behind the door was “irrelevant to his guilt”.

Justice Leach compared it to someone setting off a bomb in a public place not knowing who the victims might be.

The judge also rejected the argument that Pistorius had acted in self-defence.

He said that the athlete’s life was not in danger at the time of the shooting, as Pistorius did not know who was behind the door or if they posed a threat.

The judge added that Pistorius did “not take that most elementary precaution of firing a warning shot”.

Ms Steenkamp’s mother, June, was present and afterwards she was seen outside the court being embraced by members of the African National Congress Women’s League, who were singing songs of celebration.

Correspondents say that many in South Africa were upset by the original acquittal on murder charges, with women’s rights groups arguing he should have been found guilty of murder as a deterrent because of the high number of women who are killed by their partners in the country.

Pistorius key dates:

August 2012: Competes in London Olympics and Paralympics, where he won a gold medal

February 2013: Shoots dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp

March 2014: Trial begins

September 2014: Judge finds Pistorius guilty of culpable homicide

October 2014: Begins five-year sentence

October 2015: Transferred to house arrest

December 2015: Appeal court changes verdict to murder

The double amputee was released from prison on 19 October as he was eligible for release under “correctional supervision”, having served a sixth of his sentence.

Pistorius can challenge the ruling in the constitutional court but only if his lawyers can argue that his constitutional rights have been violated.

SOURCE:BBC:[Murder convict Oscar Pistorius to appear on bail plea->http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-35034292]

December 7, 2015
Rwamagana: Husband killer pleads guilty

{Prosecution yesterday requested for a life sentence for a female resident of Rwamagana district, Nyirantagorama Odette for alleged killing of her husband Kamonyo Jean Pierre with an ax during the night of 20th November, 2015.
}

During a court hearing held at Musha, court read out the offense to Odette after which prosecution requested that a life sentence be handed to her basing on article 142 of the penal code.

Nyirantagorama pleaded guilty but denied reports that she hit him dead with an axe in his sleep, saying the horrendous act happened in the midst of a fiasco.
Nyirantagorama was also penitent, asked forgiveness from God, her children and her family.

During the trial, she accepted to have committed the crime and requested to serve two years in jail so she can take care of children she begot with the deceased after serveing the sentence.

December 5, 2015
African Court dismisses robbery ruling

{The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights has delivered its judgment in the legal matter involving Alex Thomas versus the United Republic of Tanzania where the applicant’s case was dismissed.}

In the Application 005/2013) the Applicant, Mr Alex Thomas who was convicted in absentia for armed robbery in 1998 and is currently serving sentence of 30 years imprisonment in Tanzania had filed an Application before the African Court alleging that he was wrongfully convicted and that the trial and appellate Courts in Tanzania lacked jurisdiction to try him as the robbery occurred in Kenya.

The applicant further alleged that he was not given an opportunity to defend himself during trial, that the prosecution did not prove the case against him beyond reasonable doubt; that he was not provided with legal aid during trial contrary to the Constitution of Tanzania and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that there had been unduly delay in the review of the decision of the Court of appeal where he appealed in 2009.

Represented by Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU), the applicant prayed for the following reliefs from the Court; A declaration that the Applicant’s state violated the Applicant’s rights as enshrined under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights Articles 1 (recognition by State parties of the rights, duties and freedom under the African Charter)

The applicant also prayed for Article 3 (Equality before the law and equal protection of the law); Article 5 (Right to respect of the dignity inherent in a human being); Article 6 (Right to liberty); Article 7(1) (Right to have one’s cause heard) and Article 9(1) (Right to receive information).

He requested an Order of release of the Applicant by the state Respondent, an order of reparations an order to compel the Respondent’s state to report to the African Court on the implementation of the Court’s decision after every 6 months and any other order that the Court may deem fit.

The Respondent state on the other hand raised preliminary objections on jurisdiction, admissibility and merits. With regards to admissibility, the Respondent prayed that the Court grants the orders that the application be dismissed for lack of admissibility requirements as stipulated under the Rules of the Court, the Charter and the Protocol and that the application be dismissed in accordance with Rule 38 of the Rules of the Court (Dismissal of applications without merit).

SOURCE:DAILY NEWS:[African Court dismisses robbery ruling->http://dailynews.co.tz/index.php/home-news/44543-african-court-dismisses-robbery-ruling]

November 26, 2015
South Africa:Gemballa murder accused guilty – report

{Johannesburg – The three men accused of killing German supercar conversion specialist Uwe Gemballa were found guilty by the High Court sitting in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court, The Star reported. }

Judge George Maluleke told Galland Holworthy, Thabo Mohapi and Thabiso Ledwaba on Wednesday that they were guilty of murder, kidnapping and theft.

Sentencing proceedings for the three was expected to start on November 30.

Gemballa was an associate of Czech fugitive Radovan Krejcir and slain Teazers boss Lolly Jackson.

News24 reported previously that a fourth accused, Thabiso Melvin Mpye, 29, was convicted and sentenced in a plea agreement for his involvement in Gemballa’s murder.

He pleaded guilty to kidnapping and killing Gemballa, 55, shortly after the German arrived in South Africa on February 8, 2010.

Gemballa’s body was found in a shallow grave in Pretoria in October that year.

NEWS 24

November 12, 2015
Huye court of high instance postpones the trial of Nyanza district official

{The executive secretary of Nyanza district, John Habimana Kayijuka, has appeared in Huye court of high instance today on 10th November, 2015 to clarify his concerns over financial misappropriation alleged crimes of Rwf 50 million.}

The accused appeared in Huye court of high instance around 9:00am wearing a black suit, white shirt, Kaki pant and pantofel shoes standing between two defenders.

The prosecution told the court that Kayijuka is suspected of conspiracy in misappropriation of Rwf 58 million believed to have been stolen by Nsabihoraho Jean Damascene, former director of finance in Nyanza district.

The representative of prosecution told the court that the fact of signing bills resulting in financial theft proves conspiracy and requested that Kayijuka be held at the police station while investigations on his allegations continues.

Based on the escape of Nsabihoraho considered a nucleus of financial misappropriation, the prosecution requested for Kayijuka, a temporary arrest of 30 days while the investigation is ongoing.

Defenders of Kayijuka explained that signing bills, the accused was not aware of the intention to steal the money adding that he didn’t check all contents of bills because he trusted co-workers .

One of defenders said ‘he did standard things without any aberrance.’

Defenders demonstrated that Kayijuka alerted the police, a reaction which resulted in the recovery of 48 million in collaboration with district administration.

This made defenders request to free the client during the investigation adding that he would not escape since he is not involved in conspiring chain.

Following the balance of both prosecutors and defenders appeals, Kayijuka was taken back to detention of Ngoma Police station after the court ruled that the litigation is postponed to 12th November, 2015 at 2:00 pm.

November 10, 2015
Saudi Arabia court confirms Shia cleric death sentence

{ {{Supreme Court confirms capital punishment for Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a leader of anti-government protests.}} }

The Supreme Court in Saudi Arabia has confirmed the death sentence against Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a leader of anti-government protests, one of his brothers said.

“After the confirmation of Sheikh Nimr’s death sentence by the Court of Appeal and then the Supreme Court, his life is in the hands of King Salman who can endorse the sentence or suspend the execution,” Mohammed al-Nimron said on Sunday.

He warned his brother’s execution “could provoke reactions that we do not want,” as Sheikh Nimr had “supporters in the Shia areas of the Islamic world”.

Mohammed al-Nimr said he expected the king to “prove his wisdom” by halting the execution of his brother and six other Shia people.

Iran warning

Among those sentenced to death, “three, including my son Ali, were minors at the time of arrest” for involvement in anti-government protests that erupted in the Eastern Province in the wake of the Arab uprisings, he told AFP news agency.

The case of Ali al-Nimr, in particular, has led to strong reactions around the world, with many asking the Saudi authorities to grant the young Shia a stay from the execution.

Iran, the arch-foe of Saudi Arabia, on Sunday warned Riyadh not to execute the cleric.

“The execution of Sheikh Nimr would have dire consequences for Saudi Arabia,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian.

“The situation in Saudi Arabia is not good and provocative and tribal attitudes against its own citizens are not in the government’s interests,” he said in a statement.

Separation call

Sheikh Nimr had called in 2009 for separating the Eastern Province’s Shia-populated Qatif and Al-Ihsaa governorates from Saudi Arabia and uniting them with Shia-majority Bahrain.

Last year a special court in Riyadh sentenced him to death for “sedition”, “disobedience” and “bearing arms”.

Saudi Arabia’s estimated two million Shia, who frequently complain of marginalisation, live mostly in the east, where the vast majority of the OPEC kingpin’s huge oil reserves lie.

ALJAZEERA

October 26, 2015