ARUSHA - A member of former president Juvenal Habyarimana’s inner circle (Akazu) that planned and executed the 1994 Genocide of Tutsi, has pleaded guilty to Genocide crimes.

Michael Bagaragaza, 55, the former head of a tea estate in the Western Province, yesterday entered a guilty plea to the count of Complicity in Genocide which was accepted by Trial Chamber III, composed of three judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

In an open session which had earlier been declared off-camera, the Chamber expressed satisfaction that the accused entered the guilty plea voluntarily and in an informed and unequivocal manner.

Bagaragaza, who surrendered to the tribunal in 2005, was initially charged with four counts of Conspiracy to Commit Genocide, Genocide, Complicity in Genocide and violations of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and of Additional Protocol II of 1977. 

According to an ICTR press statement, the chamber ruled that the hearing of character witnesses presented by the defence in preparation of the sentencing judgement be held in November this year.

Following his surrender, the accused was transferred to the facility of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) following a request by the ICTR Prosecutor to grant the transfer for security reasons.

This was followed by two botched attempts by the Prosecutor to transfer Bagaragaza’s case to Norway and to the Netherlands.

In the case  of  Norway,  the  trial  chamber,  relying  on  the submissions by the Norwegian Prosecutor, found that Norwegian criminal law did not  provide  for  the  crime  of  genocide,  which was alleged in the indictment,  and therefore  denied  the  application.

When the Prosecution renewed its request for referral to the Netherlands, it was supported by a statement of the Dutch prosecutor that the Netherlands had jurisdiction to try the case. 

However, it was also later denied on grounds that the European country did not also have jurisdiction to try such a case.

In 2007, the referral order was revoked and the accused was transferred on May 20, 2008 back to Arusha.

Bagaragaza becomes the ninth person to plead guilty most of whom having decided to do so under the plea-bargain arrangement, where they agree to cooperate with the tribunal in exchange of lighter sentences.

Former Prime Minister and key architect of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Jean Kambanda, also pleaded guilty but the court sentenced him to life imprisonment because he did not show remorse.

Others who also pleaded guilty were Omar Serushango,  Paul Bisengimana, Georges Ruggiu, Nzabirinda Joseph, Juvenal Rugambara, Serugendo Joseph and Vincent Rutaganda.

Ends