[hq2600] From Cynthia McKinney: Victory in Court--in Spain!

[HQ]

Hello Friends,

On Monday night, I spoke at the State University of New York at New Paltz on
the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  In that speech I warned
the students and members of the community present that everything our young
children are taught today about the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is
a lie.  And that it is a lie, purposefully told, to hide from view and
justice, the real culprits.  I went back to the December 1999 trial
testimony of Bill Schapp who testified about the lies willingly printed by
the most prestigious news houses of the day, including the New York Times,
to destroy the reputation and effectiveness of Dr. King.  I told the
audience that for five long years, Dr. King endured the most treacherous
treatment at the hands of the corporate press and that this treatment was
even extended to his widow, Coretta, particularly by the Atlanta
Constitution, after Dr. King was murdered.  I warned the audience that it is
clear that the malevolent intentions of the government are too often
combined with the corporate press to deny the truth from the American people
and the global community.  So it was with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and so
it is with what the world now knows as the Rwanda Genocide.  I have only
asked for the truth to be told and justice to follow.

While in Congress, I was involved in truth-seeking in the role of the United
States government and the United Nations in what the world knows as the
Rwanda Genocide.  Outraged by what I learned, I agreed to testify in court
in Spain on behalf of the truth.  Today, I learned that that participation
and that search for truth was worth it.  Forty members of the Rwandan Army
have been indicted for genocide.  And the judge found that the current
President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, was complicit--although he enjoys immunity
as a sitting Head of State.

Here's the story I just received from my friends in Spain and across
Europe.  Congratulations to them for their pursuit of the truth.  And thank
you, my friends on this listserve for recognizing that the truth is not
always what is presented to us.  While it is increasingly difficult to find
justice in U.S. courts, this is the second time within recent memory that
Spanish courts have stepped up to give the world justice.

Please support my work in trying to pry open the acceptable political
discourse in this country and expose the truth.  Please visit
www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com for more information on me, and to
www.runcynthiarun.org to donate to my efforts.  Here's the story:

Spanish judge indicts 40 Rwandan military officers for genocide

   - Story Highlights
   - A Spanish judge has indicted 40 current or former Rwandan military
   officers
   - Men were indicted for several counts of genocide and human rights
   abuses
   - More than 4 million Rwandans died or disappeared during the 1990s
   - The majority of the victims were Hutu Rwandan refugees or Congolese
   civilians

>From CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman

*MADRID, Spain (CNN)* -- A Spanish judge Wednesday indicted 40 current or
former Rwandan military officers for several counts of genocide and human
rights abuses during the 1990s when several million Rwandans died or
disappeared.
[image: art.kabarabe.afp.gi.jpg]

General James Kabarebe, left, is one of the 40 indicted for several counts
of genocide and human rights abuses.
The judge issued international arrest warrants against the 40, including
Gen. James Kabarebe, whom the judge said is believed to be the chief of
staff of Rwanda's military; Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, whom the judge said is
believed to be Rwanda's ambassador to India; and Lt. Col. Rugumya Gacinya,
whom the judge said is believed to be a military attaches at Rwanda's
embassy in Washington, according to court documents viewed by CNN

Rwanda does not have an extradition treaty with Spain, a court spokeswoman
told CNN.

The indictments against the 40 are for "crimes of genocide, human rights
abuses and terrorism," during the 1990s in Rwanda, "when more than four
million Rwandans were killed or disappeared under an extermination plan for
ethnic and/or political reasons," the court documents said.

The judge, Fernando Andreu, named eight Spaniards who died or disappeared
during those tumultuous years in Rwanda. Their plight prompted his
investigation at Spain's National Court in Madrid, which previously has
investigated human rights violations against Spaniards during past military
regimes in Chile, Argentina and elsewhere.

Five of the Spanish victims were missionaries. The bodies of four of them
were found in late 1996 after they were tortured, and shot or hacked to
death with machetes, the documents said, while a fifth is still missing.

Three other Spaniards were shot to death in early 1997 while working for a
non-profit medical group providing aid to Hutu refugees in Rwanda, the
documents said.

The majority of the victims during the wave of terror, the documents said,
were Hutu Rwandan refugees or Congolese civilians, mainly Hutus as well.

The judge did not indict Rwanda's president, Paul
Kagame<http://topics.cnn.com/topics/paul_kagame>,
because he has immunity as head of state, the documents said. But the judge
also found evidence of criminal activity by Kagame, based on the testimony
of an informant who told the judge he previously worked on Kagame's security
detail, the documents said.

In preparing the indictments, the judge heard testimony from 22 people who
said they witnessed the horrors in
Rwanda<http://topics.cnn.com/topics/rwanda>in the 1990s. All of them
live in exile, mainly in Europe, and all have
changed their identity for security reasons, except Maria Beatrice Umutesi,
who lives in Belgium and has written a book about the killings, the
documents said.
The documents included a 182-page indictment and two accompanying summary
documents.
-- 
"It is the absolute responsibility of everybody in uniform to disobey an
order that is either illegal or immoral."  General Pace, Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Press Club, February 17, 2006

"My brother need not be idealized . . . beyond what he was in life.  To be
remembered simply as a good and decent man who saw wrong and tried to right
it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.
 Eulogy of Bobby Kennedy by Teddy Kennedy, June 18, 1968

"Certain material weaknesses in financial reporting and other limitations on
the scope of our work resulted in conditions that, for the 10th consecutive
year, prevented us from expressing an opinion on the federal government's
consolidated financial statements."  David Walker, Comptroller General of
the United States, December 15, 2006
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