• Says she will appeal against court ruling

The Nyarugenge Court of First Instance Monday sentenced Agnes Ntamabyariro, former Minister of Justice in the government of Juvénal Habyarimana to life imprisonment for participating in 1994 Genocide against Tutsis.

It was proved in court that Ntamabyariro planned and ordered the killing of innocent civilians.

Ntamabyariro was accused of holding meetings to plan and organize genocide in Nyanza and Kibuye in her native prefecture. Prosecution also charged her with participating in campaigns to distribute weapons and making lists of Tutsis to be killed.

"They made a list of Tutsi members of PL (Liberal Party) party which included my entire family. They later used that list to hunt down and kill others,” one of the witnesses told thecourt during the trial.

The court heard that Ntamabyariro together with former PL leader Justin Mugenzi drew a list of targeted Tutsis in the former Gitarama Prefecture before they invited members of Interahamwe militias.

Mugenzi awaits his verdict at the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania.

However, the Nyarugenge Court acquitted Ntamabyariro’s co-accused Jean-Leonard Hategekimana, a former prosecutor.

After the verdict, Ntamabyariro raised her hand and said she would like to say "two things”. She first asked that court provides her with a copy of the verdict also saying that she would immediately appeal against the ruling.

The ex-minister has always pleaded not guilty to all the charges against her in the trial that started in 2006.

Witnesses say that Ntamabyariro was the Secretary General of a faction of PL that was known as ‘PL Power’ because of its responsiveness to extremism, while Justin Mugenzi was its President.

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