{"id":76124,"date":"2021-04-16T11:01:48","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T09:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/?p=76124"},"modified":"2021-04-16T11:01:49","modified_gmt":"2021-04-16T09:01:49","slug":"no-release-for-bagosora-reflects-sentencing-policy-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/76124-no-release-for-bagosora-reflects-sentencing-policy-switch.html","title":{"rendered":"No release for Bagosora reflects sentencing policy switch"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Colonel Th\u00e9oneste Bagosora, the most high profile convict of the UN\u2019s former International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, will have to continue serving his 35-year prison sentence in Mali. His request for early release, after 25 years in jail, was denied on April 1, illustrating a profound change in sentencing policy.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

At the opening in April 2018 of Rwanda\u2019s annual commemoration of the genocide of Tutsis in 1994, the executive secretary of the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide, Jean-Damasc\u00e8ne Bizimana, expressed concerns. He was not happy with the early release of convicts from the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Rwanda (ICTR) granted by the president of the UN Mechanism in charge of the courts\u2019 residual functions. \"It is clear that at this rate, even Colonel Bagosora, who headed the genocide planners, will be released in only three years,\" said the Rwandan official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Theodor Meron, the judge who headed the Mechanism at the time, systematically granted conditional release to convicts after they had served two-thirds of their sentence. This had already been done by the ICTY but not the ICTR, which only granted release after the convict had served the full term (in the case of a relatively short sentence) or three-quarters of the sentence. However, the harmonisation of sentencing management between the two UN tribunals served to poison relations between the Rwandan authorities and Judge Meron.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In January 2019, Carmel Agius of Malta succeeded Meron of the United States as head of the Mechanism. Two months later, former Rwandan colonel Th\u00e9oneste Bagosora, former defence ministry no. 2 at the time of the Rwandan genocide and most notorious of the ICTR defendants, filed his request for early release<\/a>. Speaking at a debate at the UN Security Council on July 17, 2019, Rwanda's Permanent Representative, Valentine Rugwabiza, said she hoped for changes with the new president of the Mechanism. She reiterated her country's request to be able to give its opinion on every request for early release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon taking office, Judge Agius set the tone<\/a> by promising to revise the \"guideline for assessing requests for pardon, commutation of sentence or early release\". The revised text was published in May 2020. It provides, among other innovations, that the President of the Mechanism \"may decide to seek or accept the advice of third parties\" and that \"the granting of early release may be subject to conditions\".<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Th\u00e9oneste
After 25 years in prison, former Rwandan colonel Th\u00e9oneste Bagosora has failed to secure an early release. \u00a9 Tony Karumba \/ AFP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Three days of horror in Kigali<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On April 1, 2021, after Bagosora had waited two years and just days before the annual genocide commemorations, Judge Agius issued his decision, dashing the applicant's hopes. In his analysis, the judge admitted that Bagosora is eligible for early release: imprisoned since 1996 and sentenced to 35 years, Bagosora has served two-thirds of his sentence as of 2019. But that's not enough, said the judge. Other criteria must be taken into account, among which especially the seriousness of the crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bagosora was sentenced to life imprisonment by the lower court in 2008, but his sentence was reduced to 35 years on appeal in 2011. The appeal judges overturned several conclusions of the trial chamber. He was held responsible only for failing to prevent the crimes committed by the military and for failing to punish the perpetrators, whereas the trial judges found that he had ordered the crimes. However, the appeals chamber upheld a central finding of the trial judgment --  that Bagosora was the highest military authority in Rwanda between April 6 and 9, 1994, i.e. at the beginning of the genocide. The chamber therefore confirmed his conviction for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recalling the judgment, Judge Agius noted that during those three days in April 1994, several Rwandan opposition figures were assassinated, Belgian peacekeepers were lynched to death, Tutsi civilians were killed en masse and Tutsi women were raped in various parts of the capital, Kigali. \u201cEven a cursory consideration of the Trial Judgement and Appeal Judgement reflects the enormous gravity of the crimes for which Bagosora was convicted, and my own detailed consideration of these Judgements leaves me appalled at the extremely high gravity of these crimes. There can be no question whatsoever that this factor weighs very strongly against granting early release to Bagosora,\u201d wrote the judge in his decision. Agius also noted that Bagosora had not expressed remorse and that he was trying in his arguments to \"minimize his responsibility\". Addressing the issue of where he might go in case of release, the judge said Bagosora had not sufficiently demonstrated that the countries in which he proposed to live would accept him. The applicant had indicated that he wanted to join his family in the Netherlands or, failing that, to live in Mali, at his children\u2019s expense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seriousness of the crimes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Finally, the judge indicated that he had taken into consideration the opinions of the prosecutor and the Rwandan government. Both opposed the early release of Bagosora, also arguing that the crimes were extremely serious. \u201cFor these reasons I hereby deny the application,\u201d wrote the judge at the end of his 19-page decision. With this refusal, Rwanda obtained what it had been demanding for years. The Meron chapter was closed. \u201cThe Government of\u00a0Rwanda\u00a0welcomes the decision of the President of the\u00a0[Mechanism] denying the early release of Bagosora Theoneste. (..) We concur with the reasoning and motivation of the decision of President Judge Carmel Agius,\u201d tweeted the Rwandan Ministry of Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Government of #Rwanda<\/a> welcomes the decision of the President of the #IRMCT<\/a> of 1st April 2021, denying the early release of Bagosora Theoneste.<\/p>— Ministry of Justice (@Rwanda_Justice) April 2, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote>