The defense of Pierre Basabose, a 76-year-old Rwandan prosecuted before the Brussels Assize Court for his role in the Rwandan genocide of 1994, has filed a motion to challenge the president of the court, announced on Saturday, Me Jean Flamme, the defendant’s lawyer .
The lawyer criticizes the president for having shown herself to be biased by having refused the appearance “of the only witness of fact and of practically all the historical and contextual witnesses of the defence”, while those of the public prosecutor’s office and of the civil parties were accepted.
The trial of Pierre Basabose should open on October 4th. The man will appear alongside another defendant, 66-year-old Séraphin Twahirwa. Pierre Basabose is suspected of having been a member of the Akazu, the power circle around former Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana, and of having participated in the assassinations of Tutsis.
SĂ©raphin Twahirwa is also suspected of having a responsibility in these massacres. His file was joined to that of Pierre Basabose. Last Wednesday, the Assize Court issued an interim judgment on the admissibility of the prosecution, in particular on the fact that Pierre Basabose is suffering from mental degeneration. She concluded that there was no reason to give up the prosecution.
