The International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda

I thought I would just put in a short note on the criminal tribunal that we visited before we left Arusha for those who were curious...

We did make it in to the ICTR that Monday. We never did get 'pre-approved' to visit with the form we filled out, but they just took our passports and had us sign in. There was only one trial going on that day, and it was the first day of the trial. We were not allowed to take any photos, but it is all probably best described in words anyway.

The public is allowed to view from a soundproof room at the back of the courtroom. Everyone is given headsets, including the people in the courtroom (lawyers, judges, accused, etc). That way, you automatically get it translated into the appropriate language. The courtroom itself was really not what I expected for an international court. It was nothing fancy, more or less a large room inside a large building. The room was very narrow. There was really nothing remarkable about it. The judges and lawyers wore robes, and everyone else was in business clothes, sipping coffee, etc. It was all very low key.

Since it was the first day of the trial, the defense was supposed to give their opening statement. However, the lead defense attorney (from Canada) was really, for lack of a better word, annoying. She first refused to let the trial begin because she claimed 2 of their witnesses had been called last week by the Rwandan government. The witnesses are supposed to be protected, and therefore that should apparently not have happened. She claimed that it meant that all her witnesses were compromised. She argued (quite disrespectfully in my opinion) with the judges over this and would not let this point go. When they moved on, the judge pointed out that she had 19 witnesses, and was told previously that she could only have 10. Again, the lawyer through a fit saying she could not ably defend the accused man without all 19 witnesses. After much arguing and eye rolling, the judge adjourned for the next two days and said everyone should come back then, prepared. All in all, we were there for about an hour.

We were still glad that we saw the ICTR, even if it was for such a short time. However, we were not willing to wait around again until Wednesday to hear the Canadian lawyer stall some more. So, we decided it was time to press on.