Dutch genocide case
takes shape
18 November 2011 -
11:52am | By International Justice Tribune
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Basebya’s trial will
be another test case for Dutch universal jurisdiction. But this second Rwanda
case in the Netherlands is likely to be the last one. .. since the European
Court of Human Rights recently ruled Sweden was allowed to extradite a
Rwandan genocide suspect to Kigali. This ruling is expected to
ultimately lead to extraditions from all European countries to Rwanda.
Dutch judges are
currently only able to hear foreign suspects over genocide committed after 2003. Mass slaughters prior to that time can
only be handled if the genocide was committed by or against Dutch citizens.
However, last week the Dutch parliament
approved an amendment which would make it possible to try foreign suspects for
genocide committed since 1966.
The expansion of the
law is the consequence of the increase in the number of Rwandan asylum
seekers who present themselves as victims of the regime responsible for the
1994 genocide. Some of them, including Yvonne Basebya and Joseph Mpambara, were
later recognised as possible perpetrators
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“Courage, Mama!” is
the cry that reverberates throughout the courtroom in The Hague. The
64-year-old woman in the dock blows kisses to her weeping daughters. “The truth
shall triumph,” vows Yvonne Basebya, suspect in the first genocide case against
a Dutch citizen. The facts of the case occurred some 5,000 kilometres away and
the legal procedure has been sluggish.
By Thijs Bouwknegt,
The Hague
It was a Rwandan
rendez-vous this week at the District Court in The Hague. Two elderly men
embraced each other: one wearing a cowboy hat, the other showing off an untamed
hairdo. Their wives are accused of committing serious crimes in Africa’s Great
Lakes region: Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza in Rwanda for supporting FDLR rebels in
Congo, and Yvonne Basebya in the Netherlands for genocide in Rwanda.
Three judges at the
court’s War Crimes Chamber ruled that Basebya (also known by her Rwandan name
Ntacyobatabara) will remain behind bars until her trial starts in April.
She is accused of crimes “of the most serious kind in Dutch law.” It would be sending
the wrong signal if she were to be allowed to spend Christmas with her family
at her Dutch home in Reuver, the judges argued. Basebya follows her sixth
pre-trial hearing through a French interpreter via her headphones.
Case “Fox”
The two prosecutors nod in agreement. They contend that granting her provisional release would disturb the ongoing investigation in Rwanda, and would “shock” the legal order. The Dutch International Crimes Unit has been working on Basebya’s case for the past four years. It has heard witnesses in Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, Canada, Australia and the Dutch province of Limburg. The Basebya file, codenamed “Fox”, describes a bloody history: genocide, war crimes, incitement, murder and rape. The evidence: eyewitness accounts, phone tappings and files from Gacaca courts in Rwanda.
The two prosecutors nod in agreement. They contend that granting her provisional release would disturb the ongoing investigation in Rwanda, and would “shock” the legal order. The Dutch International Crimes Unit has been working on Basebya’s case for the past four years. It has heard witnesses in Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa, Canada, Australia and the Dutch province of Limburg. The Basebya file, codenamed “Fox”, describes a bloody history: genocide, war crimes, incitement, murder and rape. The evidence: eyewitness accounts, phone tappings and files from Gacaca courts in Rwanda.
A Rwandan grassroots
court sentenced Basebya to life imprisonment in absentia in 2007. She was
already living in the Netherlands then, carrying a Dutch passport. She came to
the attention of the Dutch criminal investigation department during a probe
into the activities of her husband Augustin Basebya - a former investigator at
the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, who was sitting in the public
gallery on Thursday. Suspicion quickly turned away from him to Yvonne.
Since her arrest in
June 2010, Basebya has maintained her innocence. She denies that she spurred
Hutu militias in April 1994 to seek out and kill Tutsis with clubs, canes and
firearms. However, witnesses say that Basebya led gatherings of the extremist
CDR (Coalition for the Defence of the Republic) Hutu party in the Kigali suburb
of Gikondo, singing patriotic songs and dancing with murderous militias while
issuing execution orders.
Paper tiger
Her defence paints a totally different picture: married to a respectable MP – Yvonne, risking her own life, saved Tutsis during the 100-day massacre. Basebya’s lawyer Victor Koppe calls the statements of the prosecution witnesses “unsound.”
Her defence paints a totally different picture: married to a respectable MP – Yvonne, risking her own life, saved Tutsis during the 100-day massacre. Basebya’s lawyer Victor Koppe calls the statements of the prosecution witnesses “unsound.”
He told the judges
that because “nothing in Rwanda is what it seems …interpretation and the truth
are fluid,” so these statements “actually prove her innocence rather than
implicate her.”
He also warns that
statements from Rwandans cannot be compared to those from Dutch people. “If the
judges could go to Rwanda and hear the witnesses themselves, it could lead to a
fairer judgment,” he said. In two weeks, the defence team will hear the
testimony of former Hotel des Mille Collines manager Paul Rusesabagina.
The reliability of
witnesses has been a bone of contention between prosecutors and lawyers. It is
indeed difficult for the three Dutch judges to unveil the real truth. They are
barred from going to Rwanda and cannot hear nor meet with witnesses in court.
For them, the “Fox” case is a paper tiger.
Basebya’s trial will
be another test case for Dutch universal jurisdiction. But this second Rwanda
case in the Netherlands is likely to be the last one. In July The Hague Appeals
Court found Rwandan asylum seeker Joseph Mpambara guilty of war crimes in
Mugonero. But The Hague prefers to extradite genocide suspects to Rwanda. This
is now possible since the European Court of Human Rights recently ruled Sweden
was allowed to extradite a Rwandan genocide suspect to Kigali. This ruling is
expected to ultimately lead to extraditions from all European countries to
Rwanda.
Nevertheless, the
Dutch citizen Yvonne Basebya will stand trial in her new country, cheered on by
over 40 family members and friends in court. It is questionable whether
genocide victims know what is going on in the Dutch court. To the chagrin of
prosecutor Hester van Bruggen, no victims have so far turned up during the
pre-trial hearings.
Universal Jurisdiction
Yvonne Basebya came to the Netherlands in 1998 to be reunited with her family. She is also known by her Rwandan name Ntacyobatabara. She obtained Dutch nationality in 2004. Dutch judges are currently only able to hear foreign suspects over genocide committed after 2003. Mass slaughters prior to that time can only be handled if the genocide was committed by or against Dutch citizens.
Yvonne Basebya came to the Netherlands in 1998 to be reunited with her family. She is also known by her Rwandan name Ntacyobatabara. She obtained Dutch nationality in 2004. Dutch judges are currently only able to hear foreign suspects over genocide committed after 2003. Mass slaughters prior to that time can only be handled if the genocide was committed by or against Dutch citizens.
However, last week the
Dutch parliament approved an amendment which would make it possible to try
foreign suspects for genocide committed since 1966.
The expansion of the law is
the consequence of the increase in the number of Rwandan asylum seekers who
present themselves as victims of the regime responsible for the 1994 genocide.
Some of them, including Yvonne Basebya and Joseph Mpambara, were later
recognised as possible perpetrators
