On August 26, in a"Second Decision on the Representation of Félicien Kabuga", Judge Iain Bonomy confirmed Emmanuel Altit as defence counsel for the elderly Rwandan. Kabuga is to be tried before the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals , successor to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda , the UN court that operated between 1995 and 2015 in Arusha, northern Tanzania.
Kabuga has tried several times to replace this lawyer, without success. In its August 26 decision,"the Trial Chamber considers that the request to change counsel has not demonstrated the existence of exceptional circumstances warranting Mr. Altit's withdrawal or presented new facts that would warrant reconsideration of the Decision of 1 April 2021", it said.
Larochelle also declared his willingness to take on the case without risking a delay in proceedings. But the judges did not agree, saying that any change in Kabuga's representation at this stage would likely result in a delay of several months.