Ugandan judge selected to hear Rwandan genocide case

Justice Elizabeth Ibanda Nahamya has been assigned as one of the judges to preside over the case of Felicien Kabuga, who is accused of involvement in the Rwandan genocide.

President Judge Carmel Agius is the one who assigned Justice Nahamya to hear the case. Kabuga is accused of war crimes in the Rwandan genocide. Other justices are Iain Bonomy (presiding judge) and Graciela Susana Gatti.

According to International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, Justice Nahamya was selected based on Rule 64 (a) of the rules of procedure and evidence mechanism, which provided that the president shall assign the case to a trial chamber upon the transfer of an accused to the seat of the relevant branch of the tribunal mechanism.

Kabuga, 84, was arrested on May 16 in France after 26 years and is suspected of being a key financier of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which claimed over 800,000 lives.

The prosecution alleges that Kabuga supported the militia during the genocide as the chairperson of the national fund support. He denied the charges.

The highest court in French judicial system on September 30 ruled that Kabuga should be extradited to stand trial at the International Crimes Court based in Arusha, Tanzania.

Timeline

After the 1994 genocide, Kabuga fled Rwanda and is believed to have lived in various places, including Switzerland, Germany, France and Kenya. On August 19, 1998, the prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda indicted Kabuga.

Some of the charges Kabuga is accused of include genocide, complicity in genocide, attempt to commit genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and crimes against humanity.

Who is Justice Nahamya?

Nahamya has served as a judge of the International Crimes Division of the High Court.

She has made a contribution to the United Nations Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Arusha, as a coordinator as well as the special court for Sierra Leone as the principal and deputy principal defender.

She has wide knowledge and understanding of human rights policies. At the creation of Uganda's Constitution, Nahamya was a researcher for the Constituent Assembly. She was a legal adviser to the assembly's women caucus.

She has also handled several cases of war crimes while still serving at the of International Crimes Division of the High Court.