19.12.14 – WEEKLY SUMMARY- ICTR GIVES EX-MINISTER 30 YEARS IN JAIL, DRC SENTENCES A COLONEL TO LIFE

Arusha, December 19, 2014 (FH) – The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) cut an ex-minister’s jail sentence from 35 to 30 years. Meanwhile in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a colonel was sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity. 

1 minApproximate reading time

DRCSenior officer convicted for crimes against humanity: Colonel Bedi Mobuli Engangela, alias “Colonel 106”, was on Monday found guilty of crimes against humanity committed in the eastern DRC in 2005 and 2007, and sentenced to life in jail. According to the judgment by a Congolese court, the senior officer committed certain crimes himself and encouraged others to do the same whilst he was in the army and after he deserted and founded a Maï-Maï militia. The judgment was handed down in Bukavu, capital of South Kivu province, where Colonel Engangela led his militia from 2005 to 2007.

ICTR/MICTFormer Rwandan minister sentenced to 30 years: Rwandan former Planning Minister Augustin Ngirabatware, sentenced to 35 years in jail by the ICTR, on Thursday got his sentence reduced by five years on appeal. He was appearing before the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), which has been set up to handle the residual functions of the ICTR. The ICTR is due in theory to close its doors on December 31. The appeals judges threw out Ngirabatware’s conviction for rape as a crime against humanity, but confirmed his conviction for genocide and direct and public incitement to commit genocide. Ngirabatware, who was a member of the interim government in place during the 1994 genocide, is a son-in-law of rich businessman Félicien Kabuga, one of the nine ICTR accused persons still on the run.

ER/JC