Justice Elizabeth Ibanda-Nahamya a Ugandan national has been assigned as one of the Judges to preside over the case of Felicien Kabuga, who is accused of involvement in the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi which claimed over a million lives.
The President Judge Carmel Agius is the one who assigned Justice Nahamya to hear the case. Kabuga is accused of war crimes committed during the 1994 genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda.
Meanwhile other judges that will subsequently handle this case include Lain Bonomy (presiding Judge) and Graciela Susana Gatti.
According to International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, the Ugandan Justice Nahamya was selected considering 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.
On May 16th, Felicien Kabuga 84 was arrested in France after eluding international law enforcement agencies for 25years. He is suspected of financing the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda leading to the cruel murder of more than a million ethnic Tutsi.
Prosecution alleges that Kabuga supported the Interahamwe militia during the genocide as the chairperson of the National Fund support. He however, denied the charges. The highest court in French Judicial system on September 30th ruled that Kabuga should be extradited to stand trial at the International crimes court based in Tanzania.