A former adviser of the Nyakabanda sector in the Rwandan capital, Gregoire Nyirimanzi, and his co-defendants were found guilty of planning and organization of the genocide, incitement to commit genocide, execution and supervision of the genocide in their district.
During previous hearing, Nyirimanzi had affirmed before the gacaca court that the orders to massacre ethnicTutsis came from Colonel Tharcisse Renzaho, then Governor of Kigali. Renzaho, against whom the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) requested life imprisonment, awaits his fate.
Nyirimanzi had admitted to having held meetings to incite the genocide, but while denying to have killed with his own hands.
Inspired by Rwandan tradition, the gacacas (to pronounce gatchatchas) are charged with trying alleged authors of the 1994 genocide which resulted, according to the UN, in nearly 800 000 killed, primarily Tutsis.
These courts can hand down sentences up to life in prison, the maximum sentence in Rwanda. The courts are presided not by professional judges, but by people regarded as of high esteem in the society.
SRE/ER/MM/SC/GF