ICTR: Appeals in Gatete case set for May

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will early next month begin to hear appeals in the case of a former mayor Jean-Baptiste Gatete, a senior ICTR official has said.Gatete was in 2011 convicted of Genocide and extermination, as a crime against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment by an ICTR Trial Chamber.“The appeals will be heard on May 7, and in this case both the defence and prosecution have appealed against the judgment,” ICTR Spokesperson Roland Amoussouga told The New Times, yesterday.Amoussouga said prosecution disputes the verdict for the lower court’s failure to convict Gatete on conspiracy to commit Genocide and is requesting the Appeals Chamber to correct it.The defence, on the other hand, is challenging both conviction and the sentence imposed and is asking the chamber to acquit Gatete on all counts for which he was found guilty.In the closing arguments, Prosecuting Attorney Drew White said the only sentence Gatete deserves is life imprisonment for each offence he may be convicted of. “There is no lesser sentence that can be given,” White said.Life sentence is the heaviest the UN tribunal can award any convict.A former member of the National Congress of former ruling party, MRND, Gatete was arrested in 2002, by the Congolese authorities acting on a warrant of arrest issued by the tribunal in 2000.He was transferred to the UN Detention Facility in Arusha on 13 September the same year and pleaded not guilty to ten previous counts contained in the first indictment before its amendment.He is notoriously known for killings in the Eastern Province, mainly in the former Murambi commune and other surrounding communes.