Lt. Col. Habiyaremye Admits Working With Rusesabagina To Form Rebel Group

This 21st September 2011,Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza and her co-accused court hearing resumed with Lt. Col. Noel Habiyaremye defending himself.

Habiyaremye told the court that he does not know about Ingabire and FDU because when in Lusaka; where he fled to after leaving the FDRL to join his family; he had worked with Paul Rusesabagina on phone.
They were planning to form an armed wing to Rusesabagina’s political party.

He explainined to the court how he was arrested in Burundi together with Lt. Col.Tharcisse Nditurende.

He told court that due to his close friendship with Nditurende he went back to Congo (DRC) to meet him and tell him about Rusesabagina.
He added that he did not know about FDU and Ingabire.

Then Nditurende proposed to him to go with him to Burundi but did not tell him what they were going to do there. When they met with Gen. Adolphe Nshimiyimana that is where he suspected that they were hiding something from him but was later told what it was about.

He recommended to them that attacking Rwandan army was impossible because he said that RDF is very equipped and is one of the best armies in the region.

His defense told the court that the charges against him had no relation with this trial because he did not work with FDU and Ingabire or any other of his co-accused.

Capt. Jean Marie Vianney Karuta defended himself aganist charges of belonging and working for a terrorist group; conspiracy to harm the government using weapons and war and building an armed militia for the purpose of attacks and war.

Karuta plead guilty and apologized for those charges. He explained to the court how he joined the army in Central African Republic and got military training in Kinshasa and also medical lessons in Lubumbashi.

Karuta insisted that he was working for the army as a doctor and as a soldier he had to obey the orders from superiors. He agreed to have participated in an attack to the Rwandan soil which they failed.

Court hearing resumes this Thursday the 22nd September 2011 with Karuta’s defense on their side of law.