Saturday, September 5, 2009

Michael Hourigan's Affidavit to ICTR about Habyarimana's assassination

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

ARUSHA-TANZANIA

AFFIDAVIT OF MICHAEL ANDREW HOURIGAN

Date of document: 27 November 2006

Filed on behalf of the Plaintiff by:

Michael Hourigan
Carrington House
61-63 Carrington Street
Adelaide South Australia 5000
AUSTRALIA

Phone: (08) 8237 0584
Mobile: 0415 668 732
Fax: (08) 8237 0555
Email: mikehourigan@gmail.com

Date and time of filing or transmission: 27 November 2006


AFFIDAVIT


I, MICHAEL ANDREW HOURIGAN Lawyer of 61-63 Carrington Street Adelaide 5000 in the State of South Australia Solicitor MAKE OATH AND SAY as follows:

1 I am a qualified legal practitioner in the State of South Australia. I was also a former police detective before completing a law degree in 1995 after which time I took up a post as a Crown Prosecutor with the Director of Public Prosecutions (D.P.P. Adelaide).

2 In April, 1996 I left the D.P.P. in Adelaide and took up a position as an investigator with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

3 Soon after my arrival in Rwanda I was put made a team leader in charge of a team consisting of about 20 members and the team was to be known as ‘the National Team’.

4 I was directed by Judge Richard Goldstone (the then Chief Prosecutor) and Judge Honoré Rakotomana (the then ICTR Prosecutor) and Mr. Alphonse Breau (the then Director of Investigations) to focus my teams investigations on the following matters:-

4.1. investigate the criminal conduct of Colonel Theoneste Bagosora and then locate and arrest him;
4.2. investigate the criminal conduct of Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva and then locate and arrest him;
4.3. Investigate the murder of thousands of Rwandan elite in the first days of the genocide by the Rwandan Presidential.
4.4. identify the person(s) responsible for the fatal rocket attack on 6 April 1994 killing President Habyarimana and all others on board;

5 Together with my investigators we conducted investigations into these matters throughout the next year. During the course of 1996 I was called upon to brief Judge Goldstone and then his replacement Judge Louise Arbour and other senior prosecutors on the progress of our investigations into Bagosora, Nsengiyumva, the Presidential Guard and the rocket attack upon President Habyarimana’s aircraft.

6 At no time did Judge Goldstone, Judge Arbour or any other member of the ICTR ever indicate to me that our investigations into the downing of the President Habyrimana’s aircraft were outside the ICTR mandate. On the contrary, it was made clear to me that our investigations into the rocket attack upon the President’s aircraft was an act of international terrorism which clearly fell within the ICTR statute Article 4 Violations of Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions:-

Article 4: Violations of Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and of Additional Protocol II


The International Tribunal for Rwanda shall have the power to prosecute persons
committing or ordering to be committed serious violations of Article 3 common to
the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 for the Protection of War Victims, and
of Additional Protocol II thereto of 8 June 1977. These violations shall include, but shall not be limited to:

a) Violence to life, health and physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular murder as well as cruel treatment such as torture, mutilation or any form of corporal punishment;
b)
c)
d) Acts of terrorism;
e)
f)
g)
h)

7 I am pleased to say that the National Team was successful and we achieved the following results:-
7.1. Located, arrested and charged Colonel Theoneste Bagosora with Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity;
7.2. Located, arrested and charged Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity;
7.3. Gathered evidence against senior members of the Presidential Guard in relation to the killing of key Rwandan citizens, including but not limited to, UNAMIR-protected VIPS Justice Joseph Kavaruganda, (President of the Constitutional Court) and Vice President Lando Ndasingwa (the head of the Parti liberal);
7.4. In late January or early February 1997 members of the National Team were approached by three (3) informants (either former or serving member of the R.P.F.) claiming direct involvement in the 1994 fatal rocket attack upon the President’s aircraft. Their evidence specifically implicated the direct involvement of President Paul Kagame, members of his administration and military. The informants also advised that the Kagame administration was actively involved in covert operations aimed at murdering high profile expatriate Rwandans – once such murder was the death of Seth Sedashonga in Nairobi.

8 With respect to the highly sensitive information from the three informants regarding the plane crash I immediately informed my Commander Jim Lyons. My Director Mr. Alphonse Breau was out of the country and I arranged for him to be told by telephone.

9 The information from the sources was very detailed and seemed very credible. I was very concerned about the sensitivity of the information and arranged for an urgent ‘secure’ telephone call to Judge Arbour.

10 Commander Jim Lyons and I attended at the US Embassy in Kigali and I made a call to Judge Arbour at the US Embassy in the Hague using an encrypted (‘secure’) STU III telephone. I informed Judge Arbour in considerable detail about the information implicating President Kagame. She was excited by the break through and advised me that the information corroborated some other information she had just learnt from Alison Des Forge the week before. At no time did she suggest that our investigations were improper. On the contrary, I would describe her mood as upbeat and excited that at last we were making significant progress into the events surrounding the plane crash.

11 Judge Arbour was concerned about the safety of the informants and my men. I advised her that the informants’ identities had been kept secure and if she so directed me I would arrange for my investigators involved in the plane crash to leave Rwanda. She directed that my investigators should leave and I agreed to have them travel from the country on suitable inquiries in Nairobi. As for me I declined to leave Rwanda and advised her that I wanted to stay with my team and assist them complete other important investigations. She consented to this but asked me to keep in touch with her while she considered what to do with this sensitive information.

12 During the next week I was directed by senior members of the UN in Kigali that I was required to travel to the ICTY in the Hague in order to meet with Judge Arbour and brief on her on our investigations in the rocket attack upon President Habyarimana’s aircraft.

13 Some days later I was approached at the ICTR headquarters in Kigali by Mr. Michael Hall, UN Deputy Security (NY). He advised me that I would be flying to Arusha the next day on the ICTR aircraft and from there board an international KLM flight to Amsterdam. Mr. Hall asked me to give him any information that I had on air crash and he would convey it to the airport in a UN diplomatic pouch. I then gave Mr. Hall a single floppy disc containing a memorandum I had prepared for Judge Arbour.

14 The next day Mr. Hall conveyed me to the Kigali airport where I checked in for the UN flight. There Mr. Hall and I were told that the flight was overbooked and that I could not go to Arusha. Mr. Hall became agitated and told the UN flight officer that the UN Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan had personally ordered my attendance in Arusha for an international connection the next day. As a consequence I was given a seat on the UN flight and flew to Arusha.

15 The next day I flew to the Hague and over-nighted in a hotel near the ICTY.

16 The following morning I met with Mr. Al Breau and briefed him on the information concerning the plane crash. Together we discussed forming a special ICTR investigations unit based outside of Kigali to investigate the plane crash.

17 Following breakfast Mr. Breau and I attended at the ICTY and met with Judge Arbour. Also present was Mr. Mohammed Othman, Acting ICTR Prosecutor.

18 I briefed Judge Arbour on the informants and their information regarding the involvement of President Kagame and members of the RPF in the downing of President Habyrimana’s aircraft.

19 I presented her with a copy of a memo I had prepared entitled ‘Secret National Team Inquiry – Internal Memorandum’ and this document which is undated is attached to this statement. This document detailed the information provided by the three informants.

20 To my surprise Judge Arbour was aggressive and questioned me about the source of the information regarding the informants and the quality and potential reliability of their information. I advised her that the information was given to me by members from my team - the National Team. Those members were Amadou Deme and Peter Dnistriansky. I advised her that I held both investigators in the highest regard. I did say that I was not able to provide any advice as to the reliability of their information as it had not been tested. However, I did suggest that it was very detailed and this is itself meant that it could be subjected to considerable forensic examination.

21 Mr. Al Breau also expressed his strong view that both Amadou Deme and Peter Dnistrianksy were highly effective and reliable men.

22 Judge Arbour then advised me that the National Team investigation was at an end because in her view it was not in our mandate. She suggested that the ICTR’s mandate only extended to events within the genocide, which in her view began ‘after’ the plane crash.

23 I was astounded at this statement. I pointed to the temporal mandate of the ICTR being 1 January 1994 until 31 December 1994 and this clearly covered the time of the plane crash. I also addressed the ‘terrorism’ and ‘murder’ provisions of the ICTR statute.

24 More particularly I also told her that this was the first time she had ever suggested that this was outside the ICTR mandate. I reminded her that I had personally briefed her before about our investigations into the plane crash and that she had never ever expressed a view that this matter should be part of an ICTR inquiry.

25 I expressed my strong view to her that these Rwandan informants were courageous and were deserving of our protection. I cautioned her that the UN had a history of abandoning informants in Rwanda and I specifically reminded her of the UN’s abandonment of Jean Pierre Turatsinze in 1994.

26 Judge then became hostile and asked me if I was challenging her authority to direct to end our investigations into the plane crash.

27 I told her that I was not questioning her authority only her judgement. I informed her that I was her servant and I would obey her direction.

28 Judge Arbour then asked me if the memo that I had prepared for her was the only copy. I told her that it was and she said she was pleased to hear that and placed in her office filing cabinet.

29 She then asked me to leave the room.

30 I was extremely concerned at Judge Arbour’s decision and felt that it was wrong both in law and policy.

31 I returned to Kigali and a short time later resigned from the ICTR.

32 After my resignation from the ICTR I was offered a position as an investigator with the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) in New York. Soon after taking up my appointment I was asked to provide OIOS investigators investigating corruption within the ICTR with a statement re my service in Rwanda for the ICTR.

33 On 1 August 1997 I prepared an internal memorandum detailing various issues which I felt lay behind some of the difficulties with the ICTR. A copy of this memorandum is attached here.

34 The OIOS leadership were not at all interested in the memorandum and they expressed their concern at some of the contents of the document implicating the Secretary General in some of the serious events in Rwanda in1994.

35 I completed six months with OIOS and resigned.

36 I feel that unknown persons from within the UN leadership and possibly elsewhere pressured Judge Arbour to end the National Team’s investigations into the shooting down of President Habyarimana.

37 Following my resignation my National Team was dismembered – the National Team investigations into the plane crash were brought to an end.

38 I have suffered at the hands of Judge Arbour and the UN because my career with the ICTR was brought to an untimely and ignominious end. I was proud of serving with the ICTR but I felt that I could not work for Judge Arbour when, in my view, she acted for personal reasons against the interests of the ICTR, the UN and world community which we served.

39 I know the facts deposed to herein to be true of my own knowledge, information and belief except where otherwise plainly appears.

SWORN by the above named Deponent
at Adelaide South Australia on the 27th day of November 2006

Before me:

…………………………………………….

………………………..……………........
Signature of Deponent

Related Materials:
Judge Bruguiere's Arrest Warrants

UK-Rwanda: Habyarimana’s assassination was a coup, said UK Defense Ministry

The alleged mystery surrounding the black box of the Rwandan genocide

Arrest Paul Kagame for War Crimes: Paul Kagame Killed Thousands of Tutsi And Hutu People

Rwanda: RPF Crimes

New Revelations on Who Killed Habyalimana and Ntaryamira on April 6,1994

The Geopolitics behind the Rwandan Genocide: Paul Kagame accused of War Crimes

Assassination of President Habyarimana: the UN accused of complicity

Rwanda: Declaration on the shooting down of Habyarimana's aircraft on April 6, 1994

Civilian Plane Shoot-Downs and International (In)Justice; From 007 to Rwanda

Explaining the Ultimate Escalation in Rwanda:How and Why Tutsi Rebels Provoked a Retaliatory Genocide

Major General Paul Kagame behind the shooting down of late Habyarimana's plane: An eye witness testimony

The Assassination of former Rwandan President Habyarimana? Nobody Can Call It a "Plane Crash" Now!

Is Judge Bruguière’s investigation of the 6 April 1994 attack nothing but a burst bladder?

UN and Canada Complicit in Rwanda Cover-Up: Americans and Rwanda Patrotic Front (RPF) Planned and Launched Aircraft Attack

Testimony of Abdul Ruzibiza about how mistakes by both the Rwandan Government and the RPF led to the Rwandan genocide of 1994

4 comments:

  1. Serbia To Shortly Ascend to the EU Says SPAIN.

    Irrefutable Proof ICTY Is Corrupt Court/Irrefutable Proof the Hague Court Cannot
    Legitimately Prosecute Karadzic Case

    http://lpcyu.instablogs.com/entry/nato-says-the-hague-tribunal-or-icty-belongs-to-nato-
    truth-bites-for-te-hague-lately/

    http://picasaweb.google.com/lpcyusa/ViewMyHagueInternationalCriminalCourtPreparatoryDocumentsFromThe2001Unit

    edNations#
    (The Documentary Secret United Nations ICC Meeting Papers Scanned Images)

    This legal technicality indicates the Hague must dismiss charges against Dr karadzic and
    others awaiting trials in the Hague jail; like it or not.

    Unfortunately for the Signatures Of the Rome Statute United Nations member states
    instituting the ICC & ICTY housed at the Hague, insofar as the, Radovan Karadzic, as
    with the other Hague cases awaiting trial there, I personally witnessed these United
    Nations member states openly speaking about trading judicial appointments and verdicts
    for financial funding when I attended the 2001 ICC Preparatory Meetings at the UN in
    Manhattan making the iCTY and ICC morally incapable trying Radovan Karazdic and
    others.

    I witnessed with my own eyes and ears when attending the 2001 Preparatory Meetings to
    establish an newly emergent International Criminal Court, the exact caliber of criminal
    corruption running so very deeply at the Hague, that it was a perfectly viable topic of
    legitimate conversation in those meetings I attended to debate trading verdicts AND
    judicial appointments, for monetary funding.

    Jilly wrote:*The rep from Spain became distraught and when her country’s proposal was
    not taken to well by the chair of the meeting , then Spain argued in a particularly loud
    and noticably strongly vocal manner, “Spain (my country) strongly believes if we
    contribute most financial support to the Hague’s highest court, that ought to give us and
    other countries feeding it financially MORE direct power over its
    decisions.”

    ((((((((((((((((((((((((( ((((((((((((((((((((((((( Instead of censoring the country representative
    from Spain for even bringing up this unjust, illegal and unfair judicial idea of bribery for
    international judicial verdicts and judicial appointments, all country representatives
    present in the meeting that day all treated the Spain proposition as a ”totally legitimate
    topic” discussed and debated it between each other for some time. I was quite shocked!
    The idea was "let's discuss it." "It's a great topic to discuss."

    Some countries agreed with Spain’s propositions while others did not. The point here is,
    bribery for judicial verdicts and judicial appointments was treated as a totally legitimate
    topic instead of an illegitimate toic which it is in the meeting that I
    attended in 2001 that day to establish the ground work for a newly emergent
    international criminal court.))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

    In particular., since "Spain" was so overtly unafraid in bringing up this topic of trading
    financial funding the ICC for influence over its future judicial appointments and verdicts
    in front of every other UN member state present that day at the UN, "Spain" must have
    already known by previous experience the topic of bribery was "socially acceptable" for
    conversation that day. They must have previously spoke about bribing the ICTY and ICC
    before in meetings; this is my take an international sociological honor student.

    SPAIN's diplomatic gesture of international justice insofar as, Serbia, in all of this is,
    disgusting morally!

    SPAIN HAS TAUGHT THE WORLD THE TRUE DEFINITION OF AN
    "INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT."

    ReplyDelete
  2. I remind everyone, when I attended those ICC Preparatory Meetings in 2001, witnessing
    first hand the country plenipotentiary representatives present with me discussing so
    openly, trading judicial funding of a new international criminal court, for its direct
    judicial appointments and judicial verdicts, those same state powers were

    concurrently,

    those same countries and people were already simultaneously, funding the already
    established ICTY which was issuing at that time, arrest warrants for Bosnian Serbs
    (primarily) under false diplomatic pretenses.

    The ICTY and ICC is just where it should be for once.
    Cornered and backed into and an international wall, scared like a corned animal (and I
    bet it reacts in the same way a rabid cornered animal does too in such circumstances).
    (ICTY associates)

    http://picasaweb.google.com/lpcyusa/DuringTheTrialOfRamushHaradinajIn2006TheHagueWarCrimesTribunalForTheFormerYugoslavi#
    (Documents: Hague war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has destroyed all material evidence about the

    monstrous KLA (ALbanian) organ trade of Kosovo)

    I believe strongly that ICYU assocaites murdered former Serb President, Slobodan Milosevic, tried to murder
    me, as well and other Serbs prisoners and presently places , Doctor Radovan Karadzic’s
    life in direct danger as well as Ratko Mladic’s life in danger should he be brought there.

    The ICTY has no other choice than to halt all further court proceedings against, Doctor
    Radovan Karadzic, and others there both serving sentences and awaiting trials.
    Miss JIll Louise Starr (The UN Security Council has no choice but to act on this now).

    I represented the state interests' of the Former Yugoslavia, in Darko Trifunovic’s
    absence in those meetings and I am proud to undertake this effort on Serbia’s behalf.

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete