Hategekimana judgement slated for December

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will deliver its judgement in the case of former officer in the Ex-FAR, Ildephonse Hategekimana, early next month, it has emerged. The accused, is charged with Genocide or complicity to Genocide, murder and rape as crimes against humanity.According to the ICTR schedule, the judgement will be handed down on December 6th by trial Chamber II presided over by Judge Arlette Ramaroson. Prosecution has sought a life sentence for the accused on grounds that Hategekimana exercised his authority and ordered soldiers to carry out the massacres. “He ordered Hutu civilians, Interahamwe and soldiers to kill Tutsis in Butare (Southern Province),” the Senior Trial Attorney William Egbe told the tribunal. The prosecution also alleges that Hategekimana was responsible for the abduction and subsequent killings of 25 Tutsis from Maison Generalice. The prosecution concluded its case in May 2009 after presenting 20 witnesses and the defence rested its case on October the same year, after fielding the same number of witnesses Hategekimana, who commanded the military camp of Ngoma, Butare, (now the Southern Province), is part of the five accused that the ICTR Prosecutor, Hassan Bubacar Jallow, had sought in vain to transfer to Rwandan courts. He was arrested in Brazzaville, Congo, in February 2003 and a few days later was transferred to the United Nations Detention Facility in Arusha. Ends

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Hategekimana judgement slated for December