1.06.12 - WEEKLY SUMMARY - TAYLOR HANDED DOWN 50 YEARS, EX-RWANDA MINISTER GETS LIFE SENTENCE

Arusha, June 1, 2012 (FH) – The Special Court for Sierra Leon (SCSL), this week sentenced ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor to 50 years imprisonment for planning, aiding and abetting crimes in Sierra Leon, while  the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) jail for life former Rwanda Minister of Youth, Callixte Nzabonimana, for his role in the 1994 genocide.

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SCSL

Taylor sentenced to 50 years in jail: Charles Taylor was sentenced on Wednesday to 50 years in jail for aiding and abetting, as well as planning crimes during civil war in Sierra Leon. Judges held that the crimes in Sierra Leone were the most heinous in human history. Taylor was convicted on 26 April 2012 on 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law.

ICC

Appeals Chamber endorses refusal to prosecute Mbarushimana: The Appeals Chamber Wednesday dismissed the prosecution’s appeal challenging the refusal by the lower court to confirm charges against Rwandan rebel leader, Callixte Mbarushimana. The prosecution had charged him with crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in 2009 in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. A day after such decision, judges in the first instance dismissed the Prosecutor’s application for a warrant of arrest against another Congolese rebel Sylvestre Mudacumura for crimes against humanity committed in the eastern DRC between June 2009 and August 2010. They found that the application fell short of the proper level of specificity in describing the alleged crimes for which the person’s arrest is sought.

 

ICTR

Nzabonimana gets life sentence: On Thursday, three judges of the Tribunal sentenced to life imprisonment ex-Rwandan Youth Minister Callixte Nzabonimana for his role in 1994 genocide. They convicted him of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide and extermination, as a crime against humanity.

CANADA

Trial of Mungwarere opens: The trial of former Rwandan school teacher, Jacques Mungwarere, accused of participating in the 1994 Tutsi genocide, started before a Canadian court on Monday. He pleaded not guilty to the charges on crimes allegedly committed in Kibuye prefecture, Western Rwanda. He is accused of participating in massacres of Tutsis in two churches and one hospital in the prefecture.

 

FK/NI/GF