what to do when on trial for genocide

Claim to have been tortured by your captors.

On a day when three witnesses recalled the terror dispensed by Saddam Hussein's intelligence apparatus, the former Iraqi president said that he and his co-defendants have been beaten and tortured by their U.S. military jailers. Hussein's accusations came during a theatrical exchange Wednesday as he and his seven co-defendants stood trial for the 1982 massacre of 148 people in the Shiite village of Dujail. The attack purportedly was launched in retaliation for an assassination attempt on the dictator.

"Yes, we were beaten by the Americans," Hussein said during a meandering monologue that came during a period when he and the other defendants were offered the opportunity to question witness testimony through queries addressed to the court. "We were tortured one-by-one." (Chicago Tribune)