One of the most important trials before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has again run into difficulty following the withdrawal of a judge for health reasons. Nine years after the arrest of the three defendants—leaders of the former presidential party (MRND) who are among the prime suspects in the 1994 genocide—the trial is unlikely to finish before 2008, the completion date set by the UN Security Council for all ICTR trials. On March 6, 2007, the two judges still presiding over this matter after the withdrawal of the third on January 19, announced, "The remaining judges believe the trial could conclude by December 31, 2008, but that, if such is not the case, reasonable decisions will be made in the interest of justice and taking into account the rights of the accused." �

The trial, which began for the first time on November 27, 2003, sensibly lumped together Mathieu Ngirumpatse, Edouard Karemera and Joseph Nzirorera - the former President, Vice-President and General Secretary of the MRND respectively. More curiously, it also included André Rwamakuba, the former Minister of Education and an MRND opponent *IJT-3+. After an excessively laborious and confusing start for the prosecution, a storm erupted when, at the end of April 2004, the defense revealed the existence of a personal relationship between Andrésia Vaz, the presiding judge and Vice-President of the ICTR, and a prosecutor in the trial *IJT-5+. The storm ended with a shipwreck: the Chamber of Appeals ended up ordering a new trial [IJT-31]. Two years were lost - but not for everyone. In the midst of this fiasco, the prosecutor requested a separate trial for Rwamakuba [IJT-20].�

Judge Byron's challenges

The new presiding judge, Dennis Byron from Saint Kitts and Nevis, thus inherited two cases: that of Rwamakuba, which began June 9, 2005, and that of the three MRND leaders, which started three months later. Despite Judge Byron's firmness and enthusiasm, the two trials couldn't have been more different. He may have handled the Rwamakuba trial brilliantly, but in the other case he was faced with a prosecutor's office incapable of managing its case clearly and efficiently, and an exhausting defense with its ceaseless quibbling. Rwamakuba was acquitted, after having spent eight years in prison [IJT-53]. In the other trial, however, no progress was being made, until a new wrench was thrown into the works: the withdrawal of Ghanaian Judge Emile Francis Short. In fifteen months exactly, only 13 prosecution witnesses (out of 100 announced) had been heard. "In a period of two years, more than 50 decisions were handed down regarding disclosure alone," reminded the judges, not revealing their discouragement, and "more than 80 decisions were handed down regarding, in some cases repetitive, defense motions." The prosecution, directionless, continued to tread a delicate path and modify the charges, necessitating "accumulated 'purges' of the indictment".�

When the two remaining judges asked the accused if they consented to continue the trial with a new third judge, two refused and the third set out conditions that do not bode well. Edouard Karamera "agreed to continue the proceedings as long as the substitute judge has time to watch the video recordings of all the proceedings of the case up to this point." Yet, his co-defendant and alleged accomplice Joseph Nzirorera "estimates the length of the hearing sessions at 479 hours of video recording." Not without a sense of irony, the defense suggested possibly sending the case back before a national court - other than that of Rwanda, of course. �

On March 6, in a tedious 37-page decision, the judges decided to continue the trial. Without missing a beat, Ngirumpatse and Nzirorera appealed. When the trial begins again, there will no doubt be fewer than 18 months for it to run aground.