Renzaho judgement set for today

ARUSHA: The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda will today deliver its judgement in the case of former Kigali Governor Colonel Tharcisse Renzaho.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

ARUSHA: The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda will today deliver its judgement in the case of former Kigali Governor Colonel Tharcisse Renzaho.

Renzaho, whose trial commenced in January 2007, is facing charges that include Genocide, or alternatively, complicity in Genocide, crimes against humanity, murder and rape.

The judgment to be read in the tribunal’s trial chamber 1 will be presided over by Judge Erik Møse. 

According to the indictment, Renzaho individually responsible for the death of Tutsis at St Famille parish church, St Paul’s pastoral centre and Centre d’Education de Langues Africaines (CELA).

"On about 7 April 1994, and regularly thereafter Tharcisse Renzaho broadcast orders over Radio Rwanda to soldiers and militias to put up roadblocks for the purpose of identifying and killing Tutsis,” the indictment reads in part.

Born in 1944 in Kibungo, Eastern Province, Renzaho also allegedly issued written orders to kill Andre Kameya, a journalist who was critical of the interim government. 

Prosecution brought 24 witnesses while defence presented 28 including the defendant.

The ICTR has so far rendered two prominent Genocide judgments since the beginning of this year.

They include that of clergyman Emmanuel Rukundo who was sentenced to 25 years in prison and that of the former acting Rwandan Interior Minister, Callixte Kalimanzira, who was recently jailed for 30 years for his role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis.

Ends