The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) appeals chamber yesterday upheld Pauline Nyiramasuhuko’s conviction for conspiracy to commit genocide.

The Appeals Chamber ruled that the former family affairs minister entered into an agreement with members of the interim government on or after April 9, 1994, to kill the Tutsi in the then Butare Prefecture. 

It also upheld findings of her criminal responsibility in relation to attacks at the Butare Prefecture office in May and June 1994, affirming her convictions on the basis that she ordered the killing of the Tutsi who had sought refuge at the office and as a superior of Interahamwe militia who perpetrated rapes there.

The court, however, trimmed down the life sentence earlier imposed by the Trial Chamber on three Genocide convicts and set two others free.

A statement released after the Appeals Chamber hearing said having considered the impact of its findings on appeal, in particular that the appellants’ right to be tried without undue delay had been violated, the Appeals Chamber reduced the life sentences imposed by the Trial Chamber on Nyiramasuhuko, her son Arsène Shalom Ntahobali, and former mayor of Muganza Elie Ndayambaje, to 47 years of imprisonment for each of them.

With respect to Sylvain Nsabimana, Alphonse Nteziryayo, and Joseph Kanyabashi, the Appeals Chamber further found certain errors in the Trial Chamber’s determination of their respective sentences, and considering the impact of all its findings, reduced Nsabimana’s sentence to 18 years in prison, Nteziryayo’s sentence to 25 years, and Kanyabashi’s sentence to 20 years.

Considering time already served, the Appeals Chamber ordered Nsabimana’s and Kanyabashi’s immediate release.

‘Progressive decision’

Prosecutor General Richard Muhumuza told The New Times last evening that although the ICTR Appeals Chamber had reduced the sentences of all the six persons in the Butare case on technical grounds, it is important that their convictions were upheld.

"The decision is very progressive in finding conspiracy to commit genocide and omission of duty to protect the Tutsi during the 1994 Genocide. Despite the reduction in sentences, there is no doubt that the prosecution case has been proved as no one was acquitted,” he said.

The ICTR in April started hearing appeals in its last case, involving six personalities, including Nyiramasuhuko – the only woman to be tried by the tribunal – from Butare Prefecture.

Nyiramasuhuko is not only the first woman indicted by ICTR but also by any international criminal court, and the charges against her included ordering rape.

The trial court sentenced her to life in prison on June 24, 2011, for conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, extermination, rape, persecution, violence to life, other inhumane acts and outrages to human dignity.

According to the trial court, the former minister conspired with other members of the interim government to commit genocide in Butare.

Judges said she exercised command authority over Interahamwe militia who committed rape in the offices of the Butare prefecture.

The trial court had also handed down life sentences on her son, Ntahobali, and on former mayor Ndayambaje.

Nyiramasuhuko and her Canadian lawyer Nicole Bergevin always claimed she was a victim of a ‘smear campaign’.

Milestone trial

Started in June 2001, the trial goes down in history as the longest and costliest in the history of international justice.

The ICTR was earlier due to close its doors at the end of 2014 but the Security Council extended the mandate of the judges handling this case.

The Appeals Court judgment, which will mark the end of the ICTR’s work, has lasted 14 years and Nyiramasuhuko has spent 16 years in preventive detention.

As the Nyiramasuhuko case ends, however, nine top Genocide suspects are still on the run. They include Félicien Kabuga, said to be the financier of the genocide; former defence minister Augustin Bizimana; and Protais Mpiranya, who headed the presidential guard of President Juvénal Habyarimana.

If arrested, they will be tried by the Mechanism for International Criminal Courts (MICT), which is charged with handling residual functions of the ICTR.

The case files for the other ICTR fugitives were handed over to Rwanda, as part of the ICTR’s closure strategy. The tribunal has reportedly transferred 80 per cent of its records to MICT.

Mid last week, during his final appearance before the Security Council as President of the ICTR, Judge Vagn Joensen, said the Mechanism’s reliance on ICTR for administrative and other services continues to be significantly reduced.