ICTR sentences “Genocide musician” Bikindi to 15 years in jail for incitement

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) yesterday sentenced former musician, Simon Bikindi, to fifteen years over a single count of direct and public incitement to commit Genocide. He had initially been accused of six counts that included conspiracy to commit Genocide, Genocide, murder and persecution as a crime against humanity among others. The fully-packed public gallery at the ICTR that included Bikindi’s wife and two sons, Judges Inés Mónica Weinberg de Roca called the accused to the witness box before passing the judgment. “Considering all the relevant circumstances discussed above and having ensured that the accused is not being punished twice for the same offence, the chamber sentences Simon Bikindi to fifteen years in jail for direct and public incitement to commit Genocide,” she said Bikindi becomes the 35th person whose case to be finished by the UN-backed tribunal that was established 14 years ago to try masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tustis. Dressed in snow- white attire from head to toe, Bikindi looked calm and relaxed as the judges read out all the charges prosecution preferred against him. Judge Weinberg de Roca supported the ruling saying that prosecution did not adduce enough evidence to implicate the accused on other charges. She however admitted the fact that Bikindi carried a public address systems on his car that played his anti-Tutsi music at public gatherings in Nyamyumba, in the Western Province. The trial chamber also ruled that while Bikindi had some Interahamwe militias in his music group, they were not answerable to him. Bikindi allegedly composed and performed songs aimed at inciting the Interahamwe militias and the civilian population to exterminate their Tutsi neighbors. However, legal analysts, who spoke to The New Times on condition of anonymity, described the judgment as highly contradictory and the punishment as too minor, saying that the court should have handed him a heavier punishment. “Prosecution provided evidence that the accused was a member of former ruling party MRND (National Republican Movement for Development and Democracy), and had shares in the RTLM media company. There is also evidence that all his music was played on the radio with his fully awareness,” said one of the sources. He was arrested in Leiden, Netherlands, in July 2001 and transferred to the UN Detention Facility of the Tanzania-based ICTR in Arusha on 27 March 2002. He has served seven years in jail and after this judgment he will have to serve only eight more years. Ends