Innocent Sagahutu, former commander of the reconnaissance battalion in the genocidal regime’s army, Forces Armées Rwandaises (FAR), and Alphonse Nteziryayo, the former prefect of Butare, are among six individuals convicted of genocide crimes during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi who the DR Congo government wants to host after years without a home. ALSO READ: Activists condemn ‘negative solidarity’ as Kinshasa readies to host Genocide convicts The group of six men includes masterminds of the Genocide against the Tutsi who were released by the now-defunct International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), either after serving their sentences, or after being acquitted. For years, they have been living in Niger after refusing to return to Rwanda despite the fact that Kigali had stated its willingness to accept them back home because they are Rwandan nationals. ALSO READ: Belgian lawyer on why genocide ideology doesn’t dissolve three decades after dispersion of genocidaires Owing to their role in the Genocide, different countries including those hosting their families refused to receive them. The six men are Innocent Sagahutu, Francois Xavier Nzuwonemeye, Prosper Mugiraneza, Alphonse Nteziryayo, Andre Ntagerura, and Protais Zigiranyirazo. In this article, The New Times takes a look at two of them – Nteziryayo and Sagahutu, who received 30- and 20-year sentences, respectively. 1. Innocent Sagahutu Innocent Sagahutu was the commander of the reconnaissance (RECCE) battalion in the former Forces Armées Rwandaises (FAR) in 1994, and he is the one who ordered the killing of former Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and the murder of 10 Belgian UN peacekeepers in Kigali during the genocide. Uwiringiyimana, the first female Prime Minister in Rwanda’s history, is one of Rwanda's leading lights who exemplified heroism in her self-sacrificing fight against the regime that perpetrated the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. ALSO READ: The former Rwandan Armed Forces' central role in preparation of 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi According to his ICTR indictment, during the April 7, 1994 attack on the Prime Minister’s home, he sent armoured vehicles and troops to the residence and maintained frequent radio contact with the RECCE battalion soldiers. ALSO READ: Rwandan Genocide fugitive, 64, arrested in The Netherlands On the same day, the RECCE battalion under Sagahutu's command participated in arresting, disarming, killing and mutilating Belgian UNAMIR soldiers. During his trial, the prosecutors charged him with both direct responsibility and superior responsibility for the killing of the Prime Minister. The ICTR chamber found him guilty of ordering, aiding, and abetting the murder of Prime Minister as a crime against humanity. The chamber cited aggravating circumstances in his case, noting Sagahutu's role as a superior and leader of Company A of the RECCE battalion who gave orders relating to the killings of the Prime Minister and the UNAMIR soldiers. The ICTR also considered the aggravating circumstances regarding the calculated and premeditated nature of both the killing of the Prime Minister and the killing of the Belgian soldiers, citing the fact that both operations took place over a number of hours and required the movement of troops, equipment, provisions and ammunition. The Chamber sentenced Sagahutu to 20 years’ imprisonment, but the Appeals Chamber reduced it to 15 years. He was released before he completed his sentence on the orders of the former UN court president, Theodor Meron. ALSO READ: Hope for justice as Judge Meron steps down In April 2017, Tanzanian immigration officials arrested him, in Kagera region, while he was attempting to cross into Burundi without valid papers. 2. Colonel Alphonse Nteziryayo Colonel Alphonse Nteziryayo was the Commanding Officer of the Military Police and later Prefect of Butare, a post he took in June 1994. During his time as the prefect, he played a major role in the genocide. For example, at a meeting in Muyaga commune around mid-June, he referred to the Tutsi as lice whose eggs needed to be destroyed. ALSO READ: How has Europe fared in bringing to book Genocide fugitives? At another meeting in Kibayi commune around mid to late June, he called upon the population to abduct and kill Tutsi women married to Hutu men, and to flush out Tutsi children and kill them. The IRMCT chamber found that Nteziryayo directly and publicly incited the commission of genocide, and that he played a role in militia training exercises and in the distribution of weapons. He was arrested in Burkina Faso in 1998 and transferred to the ICTR in Arusha, Tanzania, to face justice. His case at the IRMCT was conjoined with that of six individuals including Pauline Nyirarnasuhuko, the former minister of women's development, who was among the most notorious female genocidaires. ALSO READ: The family that tormented and massacred thousands of Tutsi in Butare The prosecutors charged each of them with conspiracy to commit genocide, complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity of extermination, murder, persecution and other inhumane acts. The IRMCT chamber found him guilty and sentenced him to 30 years in jail. But after an appeal, the sentence was reduced to 25 years. He was granted an early release in 2016.
