What is Judge Patricia Mukayiza Hiding in the Case of my Sister Beatrice Munyenyezi? .
by Jean-Marie Vianney Higiro, PhD.Professor of Communication at Western New England University
1215 Wilbraham Road, Massachusetts 01119-2684
United States of AmericaMassachusetts, USA, January 29, 2023.
1-Introduction
Judge Patricia Mukayiza has been presiding over Beatrice Munyenyezi’s trial over a year now. The trial has been marred by contradictory rulings regarding witnesses particularly after two advocacy groups of Tutsi genocide survivors namely Ibuka and Humura Rwanda Foundation wrote her a letter in October 2022 asking her to hold court hearings in closed sessions on security and privacy ground. Judge Mukayiza bowed to their demands by ruling that some prosecution witnesses’ testimonies will be heard in closed sessions and others in public sessions.
2. Well Known Witnesses and Wide Media Coverage in the Trial in the United States of America's Courts
The Concord Monitor, The Union Leader, and the Associated Press covered the two trials extensively. The news stories they published clearly indicate the names of the witnesses and even quote verbatim what witnesses said before the jury..
During the trial, I was in the court room. However, to refresh my memory, I have used the news reports from the Concord Monitor to find out the names of the witnesses the US prosecution produced in court. Here are the names of the witnesses who testified against Munyenyezi during the first trial:
- Esperance Kanyange
- Timothy Longman
- Charles Bugirimfura
- Emmanuel Niyitegeka
- Romy Zachariah
- Jean Damascene Nshimiyimana
- Dorothy Michaud
- Aloysia Mukankuriza
- Jean damasnene Nshimiyimana
- Jean Damascene Munyaneza
Witnesses delivered their testimonies in public. Their stories gave me the sense of how gacaca proceedings or community courts looked like in Rwanda. I listened to contradictory testimonies that portrayed Beatrice Munyenyezi as a bloodthirsty monster. Aloysia Mukankuriza described how Hutu militiamen raped her under Munyenyezi’s supposedly order. Mukankuriza did not request a closed session to describe her ordeal. The judge declared a mistrial after the first trial. Following the mistrial, Tutsi advocacy groups, such as Ibuka and Avega, activated their networks to recruit witnesses. Yvette Rugasaguhunga circulated the following email:
From: Yvette Rugasaguhunga <
Subject: [ibuka-l] Munyenyezi trial
To:
Date: Thursday, May 31, 2012, 1:36 PM
Dear all,
An American friend of mine and a loyal friend of Rwanda, angered that his country is giving high level perpetrators safe haven is trying to help the office of prosecutor to gather more evidence to convict Munyenyezi.
As you might know, the US government botched the NH trial of Beatrice Munyenyezi primarily because the jury could not follow the long drawn out translations of Kinyarwanda in the courtroom. Additionally, so many cultural issues came into play and the witnesses were discredited for shifting their own narratives based on nuances in the question. Sometimes these were survivors, other times they were perpetrators.
The prosecutor forwarded him the following list (what he is looking for):
Please email me in private and let me know if you might have any information that can help.
Here is his list:
5. Witnesses:
a. Bystanders
i. people who did not commit genocide but saw it happen, likely those who are of the Hutu ethnicity
ii. neighbors
b. Survivors
i. Women who tried to pass through the roadblock
ii. Women who were kidnapped
iii. Women who were raped in the hotel or the nearby areas
iv. Women who hid as refugees in or around the EER school buildings
c. Men who survived (specifically from that area)
d. Soldiers who served at the ESO during that time (04/1994 through 07/1994)
e. Perpetrators
i. Confessed killers who have been released into the community
ii. Killers who have confessed (accepted responsibility) but have not been released because they engaged in rape and genocide
f. People in the US who can speak English and meet any of the criteria of the above witnesses
6. Contemporaries of Beatrice MUNYENYEZI who may have gone to school with her
a. Knew Beatrice and her associations from school
b. Knew Beatrice from the National University
c. Knew her from the bar at the Ihuliro Hotel
d. Knew her from her political activities (if any)
7. Records or photos of Interahamwe membership and training events in the Butare area
8. Evidence of mass graves in the area of the Ihuliro Hotel
a. Photos
b. Witness testimony
c. Reports
d. Government records
e. NUR records
Thank you in advance and
Have a*´¨)
¸.·´¸.·*´¨) ¸.·*¨)
(¸.·´ (¸.·´ * Wonderful One! *
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yvette Nyombayire Rugasaguhunga
Founder & Director
YR Survivors' Education Fund
New York City,USA
(: 347-768-0494 (C)
(: 347-813-4341 (H)
Visit us at www.yrsef.com
Although we have no ability to reverse the course of our history, together, we can limit the impact of the genocide as we plant the seeds for a peaceful and a better tomorrow in order to prevent future genocides." YR
Second Trial
In February 2013, the US Department of Justice held a new trial for Munyenyezi. Once again witnesses testified in public including Consolee Mukeshimana.
- Rony Zachariah
- Thierry Sebaganwa
- Bruno Nzeyimana
- Timothy Longman
- Eric Benn, Satellite Analyst from the US Department of Defense
- Jean Paul Rutaganda who was about 15 years old in 1994
- Consolee Mukeshimana
- Maurice Violo, a US Immigration Service Officer
- Vincent Sibomana
- Donald Heflin, Director of the Visa Office for the US Department of State
- Richard Kamanzi
The witnesses who testified against Munyenyezi during the two trials returned to Rwanda where they lived peacefully. I remember reading statements by Martin Ngoga, Rwanda’s prosecutor and Ibuka expressing their unhappiness about both outcomes reached by the jurors suggesting that the Rwandan press and genocide survivors were following the two trials.
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3. The Questionable Trial in Rwanda under Judge Mukayiza.
The witnesses who testified against Munyenyezi during the two trials returned to Rwanda where they lived peacefully.
I remember reading statements by Martin Ngoga, Rwanda’s prosecutor and Ibuka expressing their unhappiness about both outcomes reached by the jurors suggesting that the Rwandan press and genocide survivors were following the two trials.
Security and Privacy have now become an issue. The Rwandan prosecution has asked and obtained from Judge Mukayiza to have its witnesses testify in closed sessions claiming privacy and security. Judge Mukayiza has so far ruled in its favor, a situation that has pushed Munyeyezi to ask twice that she recuse herself to no avail.
Witness Consolee Mukeshimana who testified against Munyenyezi in a closed session in Judge Mukayiza’s courtroom is very interesting. When she testified in the US, defense attorney questioned her credibility when she claimed that she saw and talked to Brigdet Ntahobari in April 1994 at Hotel Ihuriro. She stated all the children of Maurice Ntahobari and Pauline Nyiramasuhuko were at Hotel Ihuriro and she interacted with them. Yet, at the time Brigdet Ntahobari was a student living in Germany. In November last year her neighbors saw her enter the courtroom from a side door. She went and testified against Munyenyezi in a closed session. Some of her neighbors and even her sister who was married to Maurice Ntahobari’s brother were stupefied. One of her former classmates in elementary school who saw her said they sat together in a classroom, and they were both nine years old in 1994. Today, she claims she was 17 in 1994.
In a country where all citizens live by the rule of law, Mukeshemana would be prosecuted for lying under oath.
Judge Mukayiza is another character who deserves scrutiny. She is a Tutsi genocide survivor. People who know her and who, for security reasons, refuse to identify themselves, claim that during community court proceedings known as gacaca, she recruited and trained fake witnesses to testify against innocent Hutus.
She is a member of the Superior Council of the Judiciary of Rwanda. She does preside over big fish legal cases such as the case of Alfred Nkubili, the owner of the truck used to transport missiles to Masaka to shoot down the plane carrying the Presidents of Burundi and Rwanda Cyprien Ntaryamira and Juvenal Habyarimana on April 06, 1994.
Munyenyezi arrived in Rwanda deported by the US on April 16, 2021. The Rwandan Bureau of Investigation (RIB) immediately arrested her on charges of committing genocide. Her trial began in May 2022 in the Superior Court and in December got moved to the International and Cross Border Criminal Court. She is detained at the prison of Mageragere.
©2023 Jean-Marie Vianney Higiro, PhD.
Professor of Communication
Western New England University
1215 Wilbraham Road, Massachusetts 01119-2684
United States of America
Massachusetts, USA, January 29, 2023.
©2023 AfroAmerica Network.
The opinions expressed in submitted articles and publications are those of the authors.
