The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Wednesday sentenced to life imprisonment two former top Rwandan politicians, Matthieu Ngirumpatse and Edouard Karemera, for their role in the execution of the 1994 Tutsi genocide.
The two were held responsible as senior officials for crimes committed by members of their party, notably its Interahamwe youth wing.
Mathieu Ngirumpatse(above) and Edouard Karemera, who were president and vice-president of the ruling MRND party at the time of the genocide, had pleaded not guilty to the charges.
“The chamber unanimously condemns Ngirumpatse to life in jail,” said presiding Judge Dennis Byron, before pronouncing the same sentence for Karemera.
Hirondelle News Agency report that according to the judgment, Karemera and Ngirumpatse had authority and effective control over Interahamwe, who participated in attacks on Tutsi civilians throughout the genocide, and failed to punish them.
They also had authority over personnel such as Colonel Théoneste Bagosora in ministries controlled by the MRND, such as the Ministry of Defence, the court said.
The Chamber found that the two convicts conspired with the interim government to adopt a policy of genocide, which they executed primarily through their Civil Defence Plan, a thinly veiled strategy for extermination of Tutsis.
Furthermore, it said that as of May 25, 1994, Karemera had authority and effective control over civilians who participated in the Civil Defence Programme and local officials who were part of the territorial administration.
Ngirumpatse was born in 1939 in Ntare commune, Kigali Rural prefecture, and trained as a lawyer. He was President of the MRND party in 1994 and had been a member of its steering committee since 1993.
Ngirumpatse was arrested in Mali on June 11, 1998, and transferred to the ICTR in Arusha, Tanzania, a month later.
Karemera was born in Mwendo commune, Kibuye prefecture, in 1951 and also trained as a lawyer. Like his co-accused, he held various senior positions, including Minister of Interior in the interim government in place during the genocide.
He was arrested in Togo on June 5, 1998 and transferred to the UN Tribunal on July 10, 1998.
Their trial began in November 2003. The prosecution fielded 46 witnesses, of whom 30 appeared in court and 16 gave written evidence. The defence called a total of 74 witnesses, of whom 35 for Karemera and 39 for Ngirumpatse, including the defendants themselves.
additional reporting: Hirondelle
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