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UN:
FORMER PROVINCIAL LEADER OF RWANDA GIVEN LIFE SENTENCE BY UN GENOCIDE
TRIBUNAL: 07/12/2007 (MaximsNews Network)
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UNITED NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network /
- 07 December 2007 --
A former Rwandan provincial leader has been
sentenced to life in prison by the United Nations tribunal dealing with the
country’s 1994 genocide after it convicted him for his role in the killings,
including the massacre of hundreds of Tutsis who had sought refuge in a church.
A
three-judge panel at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR),
which sits in Arusha in neighbouring Tanzania, sentenced François Karera today
after finding him guilty of three counts of genocide and crimes against
humanity. He was acquitted of complicity to commit genocide, which had been an
alternative count to genocide.
The ICTR
found that Mr. Karera, who served as the prefect, or chief administrator, of
Kigali-Rural Prefecture between April and July 1994, ordered, instigated and
encouraged attacks by Hutu militiamen and soldiers against Tutsis in his
prefecture.
In
mid-April of that year, militiamen and soldiers arrived in Ntarama sector and
attacked Tutsis who had sought shelter at a church because of the killings and
violence engulfing the country. Mr. Karera was present and encouraged the
attackers as they killed hundreds of people at the church.
Later
that month and also in May, many Tutsis were also killed – mainly at makeshift
roadblocks – at two other communes in Mr. Karera’s prefecture, following
orders he gave.
The
judges said that in determining the appropriate sentence for Mr. Karera, they
“took into account in particular his position of authority and the number of
victims who were killed at Ntarama Church.”
About
800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered, mainly by machete, in less
than 100 days starting in April 1994. The Security Council set up the ICTR later
that year to deal with the worst crimes.
Labels: United
Nations, U.N.,
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