65-year old woman faces Genocide charges in Holland

Dutch judicial authorities yesterday began a Genocide trial for a woman remembered for singing the infamous extremist song, Tubatsembatsembe (exterminate them), during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.According to reports, Ward Fernandusse, the prosecutor in the case that is being held in The Hague, said that Yvonne Basebya, 65, is accused of involvement with “killing and raping Tutsis with the aim of the extermination of the Tutsi population”.According to the charge sheet, Basebya, maiden name Ntacyobatabara, is accused of playing a central role in the killings at Pallottines Church in Gikondo where over 110 people who had sought refuge at the church were killed.At the church, massacres were largely carried out using clubs and machetes.Basebya allegedly incited others, including members of the Interahamwe militia, to kill Tutsis through “gifts, promises, abuse of authority, violence or threat of violence.”According to the Dutch Prosecution, she allegedly sang songs including ‘Tubatsembatsembe’ and kept lists of Tutsis marked for death and kept track of their murders.Speaking to The New Times, the Head of the Fugitive Tracking Unit, Jean Bosco Siboyintore, said that the Dutch authorities have been carrying out investigations for the last two years.“The Gacaca court in Gikondo tried Basebya in absentia and sentenced her to life. Her case involves many witnesses who testified to the Dutch authorities, including some defence witnesses who were flown there. This was all before the beginning of the trial,” said Siboyintore.He added that after the Dutch authorities heard witness accounts, they found it necessary to try Basebya.She was arrested in Holland in 2010. Basebya is married to a former investigator at the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.She has been living in the Netherlands since October 1998 where she got Dutch citizenship in December 2004.In July, 2011, a Dutch appeals court sentenced Joseph Mpambara to life in prison for war crimes committed in Rwanda in 1994, before the new genocide clause went into effect in April this year.Basebya’s case will run until the end of the year. A verdict is expected about three months later.

National

65-year old woman faces Genocide charges in Holland