By: Danielle L. Gwozdz
Impunity Watch News Reporter, Africa
KIGALI, Rwanda – A Rwandan paramilitary police chief found guilty of genocide by a UN-backed war crimes tribunal has been acquitted on appeal.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda convicted Gen. Augustin Ndindiliyimana in 2011 of genocide, murder and other serious violations of international law for his role in the 1994 Rwandan atrocities.
The former commander of a military reconnaissance battalion, Francois-Xavier Nzuwonemeye, also was acquitted, along with Ndindiliyimana.
Ndindiliyimana was one of the highest ranking officers convicted of taking part in genocide. He was tried alongside Augustin Bizimungu, Rwanda’s former army chief of staff, who was sentenced in 2011 for 30 years. Bizimungu also appealed; however, the special court requested more information on his case.
The judgment said it took into account that Ndindiliyimana had “limited command over the gendarmerie after April 6, 1994 . . . and his opposition to the massacres in Rwanda.”
The BBC says Ndindiliyimana has been living in an International Criminal Tribunal safe house in the Tanzanian town since his release after he was sentenced nearly three years ago.
The appeals chamber said Tuesday that it reversed his conviction because the prosecution conceded that there was no evidence that supported his conviction.
“Consequently, Ndindiliyimana, who had been sentenced to time served by the trial chamber, was acquitted of all counts of indictment,” the court said in a statement.
Ndindiliyimana has been in custody for more than a decade.
Commemorations of the 20th anniversary of the genocide, in which 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in just 100 days, have already begun, even as efforts to find and punish those responsible go on.
Last week in Paris, a French court opened to genocide trial of a former Rwandan intelligence chief in the first prosecution there of former officials and others who fled Rwanda.
BBC states that Ndindiliyimana is unable to return to Rwanda and that no other country will take him.
Rwanda’s genocide was sparked by the death of former President Juvenal Habyarimana who was killed when his plane was shot down close to the capital, Kigali, on April 6, 1994.
Within hours of the attack, certain members of the government organized ethnic Hutu militias across the country to systematically kill Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
The appeals chamber also found that the trial chamber committed errors of law and fact and concluded that Ndindiliyimana could not be held criminally responsible.
For more information, please visit:
BBC News – Rwanda’s Augustin Ndindiliyimana cleared of genocide – 11 February 2014
CitifmOnline – Rwanda’s Augustin Ndindiliyimana cleared of genocide – 11 February 2014
ICTJ – Rwanda’s Augustin Ndindiliyimana cleared of genocide – 11 February 2014
GhHeadlines – Rwanda’s Augustin Ndindiliyimana cleared of genocide – 12 February 2014
Nets247.com – Rwanda’s Augustin Ndindiliyimana cleared of genocide – 11 February 2014
UPI – Rwandan genocide court reverses charges – 11 February 2014
NY Times – U.N. Court, on Appeal, Acquits 2 Rwandans in 1994 Genocide – 11 February 2014
Africa Press Review – Rwanda’s Augustin Ndindiliyimana cleared of genocide – 11 February 2014
