ICTR to deliver judgment in ‘Butare’ trial

ARUSHA - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will, next month, deliver a judgment in the longest joint trial of six suspects, including former Women and Family Affairs Minister, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko. The judgement, which comes after ten years, involves; Arsène Shalom Ntahobali, Nyiramasuhuko’s son and a former interahamwe militia leader, and Alphonse Nteziryayo, a former Commanding Officer of the Military Police. Others are; former Prefect of Butare, Sylvain Nsabimana, former Bourgmestre of Muganza commune, Elie Ndayambaje, and Joseph Kanyabatshi, former Bourgmestre of Ngoma. Nyiramasuko is the first woman ever to be charged with Genocide by an international court. She is accused of inciting men to rape women during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Instead of protecting the families as her ministry stipulates, she decided to exterminate the families, Prosecutor Holo Makwaia said during one of her submissions. She further proposed an appropriate life time imprisonment for the accused. According to an ICTR statement, the judgement to be presided over by Judge William Sekule, will be broadcast live via satellite. Nyiramasuhuko and Nsabimana were arrested in 1997 in Kenya, while Ntahobali was arrested six days later in the same country. Nteziryayo was arrested in Burkina Faso in 1998, while Kanyabashi and Ndayambaje were arrested in 1995 in Belgium. Ends

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ICTR to deliver judgment in ‘Butare’ trial