IGIHE

Category: Justice

  • Simbikangwa Trial: Paris Court Rejects Defence Requests

    Simbikangwa Trial: Paris Court Rejects Defence Requests

    The Paris Court on Thursday rejected the request of the defence of Pascal Simbikangwa , the first Rwandan to be tried in France in connection with the 1994 genocide against ethnic Tutsi’s in Rwanda.

    The prosecution announced its intention to ask the court to answer a question about the guilt of the accused of the crime of genocide, not just of “complicity in genocide”.

    The defence had argued Wednesday that moving the court in Rwanda, saying it would remove some of the “discrepancies between the testimonies.” Otherwise, she had asked a supplementary information on some points, which amounted to a transfer of the case to a judge.

    President Olivier Leurent announced the rejection of both applications, saying “multiple sketches, photos, plans (…) so as to inform the court.” He also held that the fact that many places have been changed in the two decades since the facts “render illusory the provision of on-site inspection” also legally impossible abroad.

    For its part, the Advocate General Bruno Sturlese asked the court for a “redefinition ” of the prosecution , saying that ” the discussions showed that Mr. Simbikangwa was not guilty of complicity in genocide but of genocide ” . ” He who does not commit an accomplice but a writer,” he has said.

    Technically, this reclassification would form a subsidiary question to the jury and imply that it meets first “no” to questions about the complicity put to him under the terms of the order of indictment.

    The list of questions submitted to the jury should be finalized by Friday, President Leurent who said he ” would think ” about this request.

    “I collapsed , I’m surprised , I’m shot ,” said the accused. “After the good I have done,” he continued with reference to at least two families he saved Tutsi genocide, and whose members have testified in court.

    Whether for genocide or complicity, the accused faces life imprisonment.

    jeune Afrique

  • Witness: ‘Oscar Cried as Girlfriend lay Dying’

    Witness: ‘Oscar Cried as Girlfriend lay Dying’

    Oscar Pistorius cried and prayed as Reeva Steenkamp lay dying in his home, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria heard on Thursday.

    “Oscar was crying, saying please let her live,” radiologist Johan Stipp said to questioning from prosecutor Gerrie Nel.

    “He was saying he would dedicate his life to God if she will only live.”

    Stipp, who was woken by screaming and subsequently heard gunshots, described how he drove to Pistorius’s home nearby and found Steenkamp on the floor at the bottom of the stairs on the ground floor.

    Nel asked him to look at pictures in a file in front of him. The images were not shown on the television screens in court.

    Stipp, who told the court he was a doctor, rubbed his chin as he looked at the photos and confirmed that they were of the woman as he found her lying in the house.

    He said he knelt down beside her.

    “I tried to open her airway and look for any signs of life. She had no pulse in her neck and no peripheral pulse.”

    ‘She was dying’

    He said Pistorius was kneeling next to her, two of his fingers in her mouth, trying to open her airway.

    “She was clenching down on Oscar’s fingers,” said Stipp.

    “I opened her right eyelid. Her pupil was fixed, dilated and her cornea was already drying out. To me it was obvious that she was dying.”

    “I noticed blood in her hair and brain tissue mingled with that.”

    As Pistorius listened to this he bent over in the dock, his hands pressed against the back of his head.

    Court adjourned for lunch at 12:50.

    Pistorius is accused of the murder of Steenkamp. He is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and two counts of discharging a firearm in public.

    He allegedly fired a shot from a Glock pistol under a table at a Johannesburg restaurant in January 2013.

    In September 2010 he allegedly shot through the open sunroof of a car with his 9mm pistol while driving with friends in Modderfontein.

    – SAPA

  • Sarkozy Couple Seek Tape Injunction

    Sarkozy Couple Seek Tape Injunction

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    Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni are to launch legal action after secret recordings of them were leaked online.

    Lawyers for Mr Sarkozy say they will file a request for an injunction to prevent more from being published.

    They say the recordings were made by a former aide, Patrick Buisson, without the couple’s knowledge.

    Though embarrassing, the transcripts are unlikely to cause political damage, correspondents say.

    Mr Sarkozy was said to be furious after it emerged that Mr Buisson had recorded hundreds of hours of meetings and private conversations during his 2007-12 term as French president.

    In a statement, Mr Buisson’s lawyer confirmed that the tapes had been made but claimed they had been done to help him to keep a proper record of all discussions with Mr Sarkozy and other officials.

    Most of the recordings were destroyed and those that have been made public must have been stolen, the lawyer added.

    ‘Betrayed’

    Some of the recordings were published by satirical magazine Le Canard Enchaine and website Atlantico on Wednesday.

    The initial revelations contain excerpts in which top officials express scorn over the presence of Mr Sarkozy’s wife at meetings at the Elysee.

    They also suggest that Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy was unhappy she had lost income when she married Mr Sarkozy, and hoped to boost her finances by advertising anti-ageing products.

    Mr Sarkozy himself is shown to have been dismissive, even mocking, of the capacities of some of his ministers.

    Henri Guaino, one of Mr Sarkozy’s closest allies, said the former president felt “betrayed” by Mr Buisson.

  • Cyber-jihadist Stands Trial in Landmark French Case

    Cyber-jihadist Stands Trial in Landmark French Case

    A young jihadist who ran a French website where he published al Qaeda propaganda was scheduled to appear Tuesday before the Paris Criminal Court for glorifying and inciting terrorism.

    Roman L., a 27 year old Muslim convert who used the pseudonym Abu Siyad Al-Normandy on the Internet, was arrested on September 17 in Calvados, where he lives.

    His arrest was the first under a law passed in December 2012 following a series of shootings in the south of France by Islamist gunman Mohamed Merah, which made incitement to terrorism an offence punishable by five years in prison and a fine of up to 45,000 euros.

    The accused man admitted that he was the administrator of the jihadist site Ansar Al-Haqq a radical Islamist platform. He was also charged with having translated and released two editions of the al-Qaeda magazine “Inspire” which calls for jihad.

    “Inspire” is published in English in Yemen and was written by Samir Khan, an American of Pakistani origin. An influential American imam of Yemeni origin, Anwar Al-Awlaqi, was a frequent contributor. Both were killed by US drones in Yemen.

    “I’m sorry…I take responsibility,” Romain L said in court on February 14 during a hearing at which he unsuccessfully requested his release. With his black hair pulled back and sporting a long beard, he spoke of “error” and “negligence.”

    “I did not intend to break the law or incite people to do wrong,” Romain L. said at his hearing, asking to be allowed to rejoin his family and “resume a normal life.”

    “He is the only person being held in France at the moment” for such acts, said his lawyer, Thomas Klotz. Klotz said that the charges were contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights.

    france24

  • Son of Egypt’s Morsi detained – report

    Son of Egypt’s Morsi detained – report

    Egypt’s state news agency is reporting the youngest son of ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi has been detained by police on suspicion of drug possession.

    The MENA news agency said police detained son Abdullah Morsi, a university freshman, on Saturday after a police patrol found a suspicious car parked on the side of the road in el-Obour city, east of Cairo.

    The agency said officers found two rolled hashish cigarettes in the car.

    A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to reporters, said the car’s passengers were Morsi’s youngest son and a friend.

    He said prosecutors are questioning the two men.

    Morsi was toppled in a popularly backed military overthrow in July and has been in detention since, facing a number of trials.

    – AP

  • Cuban Spy Freed From US Jail

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    US authorities have released jailed Cuban agent Fernando Gonzalez from prison after he completed his sentence.

    He is the second of a group of spies who became known as the Cuban Five to be freed. They were convicted in 2001 on charges including conspiracy.

    Gonzalez is expected to be deported within days to Cuba, where he and his fellow spies are considered heroes.

    Prosecutors said the five had sought to infiltrate US military bases and spied on Cuban exiles in Florida.

    International campaign

    Since their conviction, the men have been at the centre of a vociferous campaign by the Cuban government to free them.

    Fernando Gonzalez, 54, was arrested in 1998 along with Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guerrero and Rene Gonzalez.

    The five were found guilty in 2001 of conspiracy and failure to register as foreign agents in the US.

    Cuba has always maintained they posed no threat to the United States as they were only monitoring anti-communist exiles in Florida with the aim of preventing attacks by exiles on the communist-run island.

    Hero’s welcome

    Fernando Gonzalez was originally sentenced to 19 years but his jail term was later reduced. At the time of his release in the early hours of Wednesday he had served more than 15 years in prison.

    He is the second of the group to be freed after the release in 2011 of Renee Gonzalez.

    Renee Gonzalez returned to Cuba to a hero’s welcome and has been campaigning for the release of his fellow detainees.

    Antonio Guerrero is set to be released in September 2017, while Labanino’s release is due in October 2024.

    Hernandez is serving a double life sentence as he was also convicted of conspiracy to commit murder over the shooting down in 1996 of two planes flown by a Cuban exile group, Brothers to the Rescue.

    The pilots were on a mission searching for Cubans trying to flee the island by crossing the Florida Straits in home-made rafts. Cuba accused the planes of violating Cuban airspace.

    The case of the Cuban Five has long been a source of tension between the US and Cuba.

    wirestory

  • Egypt Court Sentences 26 to Death

    An Egyptian court has sentenced 26 people to death for founding a “terror group” with the aim of attacking ships using the Suez Canal.

    Judges said the men were also accused of manufacturing missiles and explosives, local media report.

    The defendants were tried in absentia, Reuters news agency says.

    The sentencing comes a day after the new Prime Minister designate, Ibrahim Mahlab, vowed he would “crush terrorism in all the corners of the country”.

    Mr Mahlab has been put in charge of forming a new government following Monday’s surprise resignation of interim Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi and his cabinet.

    Mr Beblawi was appointed in July 2013 after the military overthrew President Mohammed Morsi in the wake of mass protests.

    Since then, more than 1,000 people have been killed and thousands of others detained in a crackdown by the security forces on the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement to which Mr Morsi belongs.

    Militants based in the Sinai peninsula have meanwhile stepped up attacks on government, police and the armed forces, killing hundreds.

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    ‘Harmed unity’

    In Wednesday’s verdict, the court said the accused had harmed “national unity”, inciting violence against the army, police, and Christians.

    The case will now be referred to the mufti, Egypt’s top Islamic official, who has to validate the sentence.

    The final verdict is expected on 19 March.

    No further details were available about the group on trial, AFP reported.

    In a separate development, Mr Mahlab has begun reappointing several ministers in his new government.

  • Judge Allows Partial Pistorius Trial Coverage

    Judge Allows Partial Pistorius Trial Coverage

    A judge has ruled that media houses are able to broadcast parts of the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius in the North Gauteng High Court next week.

    Judge Dunstan Mlambo ruled that audio recordings of all proceedings be allowed, and audiovisual images of only parts of the trial be allowed.

    This includes opening and closing arguments and evidence of experts, but excludes evidence of the accused and witnesses.

    “It is …in the public interest that, within allowance limits, the goings on during the trial be covered… to ensure a greater number of people in the community who are unable to attend the proceedings are able to follow wherever they may be,” Mlambo ruled.

    Reaction

    MultiChoice’s Oscar Channel producer George Mazarakis tweeted: “Thrilled the SA judiciary has matured to this ground breaking decision. It is a seminal moment”.

    “This is a great step forward,” said eNCA group news editor Ben Said. “It is a very wide-ranging judgment, and a very important one.”

    MultiChoice, eNCA and Eyewitness News brought the application to the court last week.

    Last week Frank Snyckers SC, for MultiChoice and Eyewitness News, told the court that media would use technologically advanced equipment that was not obtrusive and was controlled remotely.

    Snyckers said media houses had secured the National Prosecuting Authority’s support.

    Pistorius’s legal team opposed the application arguing that broadcasting the events would lead to an unfair trial.

    Barry Roux SC, for Pistorius, asked why his client’s trial was not being treated like any other trial.

    Pistorius is accused of killing Steenkamp, his girlfriend, in February last year. His trial is to be heard in the North Gauteng High Court from 3 to 20 March.

    A 24-hour TV channel dedicated to the trial will be launched on DSTV on 2 March.

    News24 & Sapa

  • Pistorius Trial Broadcast Ruling Due

    Pistorius Trial Broadcast Ruling Due

    A South African judge is due to rule whether the trial of athlete Oscar Pistorius can be televised.

    Mr Pistorius shot his girlfriend, the model and reality TV star Reeva Steenkamp, more than a year ago, and his murder trial begins next Monday.

    State prosecutors allege the killing was premeditated, but he claims he mistook her for an intruder.

    The court in Pretoria will decide how much, if any, of the proceedings can be filmed and broadcast live.

    As a result the media are allowed access to courtrooms to cover any case they express interest in – even TV cameras are allowed based on the merits of the case, she says.

    But should the application be allowed, it would be the first time a trial would be televised live, setting a precedent in South Africa for future cases, our reporter says.

    The application to film proceedings was brought by media groups MultiChoice, eNCA and Eyewitness News, reported Sapa news agency.

    It would allow the evidence of experts, police witnesses and any other consenting witness to be televised, along with audio of the full trial, the media groups said in a 18 February media release.

    They argue that it is in the public interest for cameras to be allowed into the trial, and have secured the agreement of state prosecutors, who argue that this would allow the world to see that South Africa’s justice system works well.

    MultiChoice is even planning 24-hour coverage of the trial on its own dedicated channel – the Oscar Pistorius Trial channel – which is due to begin broadcasting on Sunday.

    But defence lawyers vehemently disagree, claiming it could lead to an unfair trial.

    Barry Roux SC – lawyer for Mr Pistorius – asked why his client’s trial was not being treated like any other, Sapa reported.

    Ms Steenkamp, 29, was shot three times through the toilet door of Mr Pistorius’ Pretoria home in the early hours of Valentine’s Day last year.

    Mr Pistorius said he thought she was a burglar and denies prosecution claims that they had an argument in the hours before the shooting.

    Much of the case will depend on ballistic evidence from the scene of the shooting, correspondents say.

    The arrest of the national sporting hero astounded South Africa.

    The 27-year-old double amputee won gold at the London 2012 Paralympic Games and also competed at the Olympics.

    As well as the charge of premeditated murder, Mr Pistorius also faces a charge of illegal possession of ammunition.
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    agencies

  • Man Convicted for Stealing Church Money

    Man Convicted for Stealing Church Money

    In Ghana, a Church Protocol Officer, who forged the signature of his church leader and succeeded in siphoning money totaling GHC14,000.00 was on Friday convicted by an Accra Circuit Court.

    Foster Nii Ayi Smith is said to have forged the signatures of Prophet Stephen Mensah, Founder and General Overseer of Power Miracle International Church at Kaadjanor in Accra and stole monies from the various accounts of the church.

    Smith stole cheque book leaflets of Access Bank, Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) and Unibank Ghana Limited in order to carry out his nefarious acts.

    Charged with seven counts of forgery and seven counts of stealing, Smith pleaded guilty.

    Prosecuting Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP ) Peter Nsoh said the complainant was Prophet Mensah the Founder and General Overseer of Power Miracle International Church at Kaadjaor in Accra.

    Smith is a protocol officer of the same church. In January this year, Prophet Mensah asked his secretary to obtain bank statements from Access, ADB and Unibank.

    After obtaining the various bank statements, ASP Nsoh said it was detected that Smith had forged the signature of Prophet Mensah and withdrawn GHC14,000.00 on different dates at the various banks without the consent of the complainant.

    A report was made to the Police and Smith was arrested. In his cautioned statement Smith admitted withdrawing only GH 6,000 cedis from the various accounts.

    agencies