A court in South Africa on Friday dropped charges on four of the six suspects accused of trying to assassinate ex-Rwanda army chief Lt Gen Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa back in June 2010, RNA can exclusively reveal.
A magistrate in a Johannesburg court room ruled that prosecution had failed to adduce sufficient evidence to link the four men including one who had been considered a key witness in the trial.
What is happening is that there are two separate trials ongoing. One is on the original shooting on June 19 of the dissident general as he drove from shopping just outside his home. The next case is an alleged second plot to finish him as he lay in the intensive care unit of the hospital just a few hours later.
The current case that has been ongoing since Monday this week was for the trial of six suspects alleged to have worked out a plan to finish off Kayumba in hospital. Prosecution had produced a key witness named Issa Mohammed – who had actually pinned the other five.
But on Monday, he withdrew all his testimony saying it was two S.A. police officers who had forced him to sign an affidavit incriminating the other five. He claimed they gave him about US$100 and forced him to sign the document. On Tuesday, he repeated the same stance – prompting the judge to throw out the case all together.
The magistrate ruled that prosecution has failed to prove that there was any link between an alleged second plot to finish Kayumba to the six suspects.
However, the two suspects who have remained in custody including Rwandan national Pascal Kanyandekwe, are connected to the original first shooting. The trial for this case starts February 20.
The magistrate however said that prosecution still has the right to appeal his decision on the released four men in relation to the second plot.
From Rwanda News Agency
Source: http://www.theexposer.net, Published: 10-02-2012 at 15:54
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