01.11.11 - ICTR/APPEALS - APPEALS HEARINGS FOR TWO GENOCIDE CONVICTS IN MID-DECEMBER

1 November 2011 By

Arusha, November 1, 2011(FH) - The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will hear the appeals of Rwandan former businessman Gaspard Kanyarukiga and military commander Ildephonse Hategekimana on December 14 and 15 respectively. Both men are appealing long prison sentences for involvement in the 1994 genocide.

Republish

To multiply its impact, information must flow freely

Republish our original articles for free, online or in print, under Creative Commons licence.

Click here to republish this content

0 min 52Approximate reading time

Lieutenant Hategekimana commanded the Ngoma military camp in Butare prefecture, southern Rwanda, in 1994. He is appealing a life sentence imposed on him by the lower court on December 6, 2010, for genocide and crimes against humanity (murder and rape).

Hategekimana was found responsible for ordering the massacres of Tutsis who had sought refuge at the Ngoma church in Butare prefecture.

Regarding Kanyarukiga, the lower court convicted him of genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity on November 1, 2010. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in massacres of Tutsis at Nyange Parish in Kivumu commune, Kibuye prefecture (western Rwanda), on April 16, 1994.

Judges found him responsible for planning, with others, the demolition of the parish church, while knowing that about 2,000 Tutsis had taken refuge in it to escape widespread massacres.

Kanyarukiga was not an educated businessman but nevertheless influential in Rwanda and money is what made him known in the society. He had business not only in his native commune but also in the capital Kigali, where he had a second wife.

FK/NI/ER/JC