Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 8, 2006 4:43:45 GMT -5
The international community bars the death penalty for any offense tried in an international court. The latest example of the absurdities that result when countries try to circumvent is found in a 150-page opinion handed down last week by Hon. Ellen Huevelle of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. All three defendants, Leonidas Bimenyimana, Francois Karake, and Gregoire Nyaminani, are Rwandan citizens who are accused of taking part in an attack on a tourist camp located in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, Uganda. Eight tourists died including two U.S. citizens. The defendants were interrogated over a period of months while being subjected to physical torture, solitary confinement under inhumane conditions, and other coercive measures, and as a result the statements made by them must be suppressed as coerced.