The Nyanza District High Court Chamber for International Crimes has postponed the trial of former FLN militia group spokesman Callixte Nsabimana, as civil parties in the case were unwilling to use information technology to give their testimony in court.
The current circumstances to minimize the spread of the Covid-19 virus did not require the accused to travel to Nyanza District to offer their testimony to those seeking damages.
Such civil parties are in the district of Rusizi (where most of the crime Nsabimana is being accused), which was effectively put under travel restrictions on Wednesday following the Covid-19 upsurge of cases there.
The alternative was for these parties to give their testimonies via video link to the trial, which they were not prepared to do, prompting court to push the trial to July 8.
The trial was scheduled for Thursday, June 4, and it was expected that skype will be used to link the judges in Nyanza; the accused is in a prison in Kigali; and the witnesses in Rusizi.
The court was prepared for a virtual trial, as was the prison where Nsabimana is currently being held, according to the judges; however, the witnesses were not.
Nsabimana faces 17 terror-related charges primarily connected to FLN rebel group activities.
Among the charges are the formation of an illegal militia group; participation in terrorist activities; conspiring and sensitizing people to join terrorism; killing; kidnapping; denying and undermining, among others, the genocide against the Tutsis.
Nsabimana had pleaded guilty to all the charges during the pretrial hearing.
The FLN militia operates in the Democratic Republic of Congo and it is blamed for terror attacks on Rwandan territory where people lost their lives in 2018, particularly in areas around Nyungwe National Park.
