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Rwanda genocide: ICTR jails Augustin Ngirabatware | Rwanda genocide: ICTR jails Augustin Ngirabatware |
(about 4 hours later) | |
A UN war crimes court has sentenced a key organiser of the 1994 Rwandan genocide to 35 years in prison. | A UN war crimes court has sentenced a key organiser of the 1994 Rwandan genocide to 35 years in prison. |
The sentence was imposed on Augustin Ngirabatware, a former government minister in Rwanda. | The sentence was imposed on Augustin Ngirabatware, a former government minister in Rwanda. |
He is the last person to be tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which will now only hear appeals. | He is the last person to be tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which will now only hear appeals. |
About 800,000 people - ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus - were killed in 100 days in Rwanda in 1994. | About 800,000 people - ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus - were killed in 100 days in Rwanda in 1994. |
The ICTR convicted Ngirabatware of genocide, incitement to commit genocide and rape as a crime against humanity, the AFP news agency reports. | The ICTR convicted Ngirabatware of genocide, incitement to commit genocide and rape as a crime against humanity, the AFP news agency reports. |
"For these crimes the court sentences you to 35 years in prison," Judge William Hussein Sekule told Ngirabatware. | "For these crimes the court sentences you to 35 years in prison," Judge William Hussein Sekule told Ngirabatware. |
He was planning minister in the militant Hutu-led government at the time of the genocide. | He was planning minister in the militant Hutu-led government at the time of the genocide. |
The court said he had distributed weapons at checkpoints where Hutu militias would kill ethnic Tutsis. | |
Ngirabatware was arrested in Germany in September 2007 and was transferred more than a year later to the ICTR in Arusha, Tanzania. | Ngirabatware was arrested in Germany in September 2007 and was transferred more than a year later to the ICTR in Arusha, Tanzania. |
He is the son-in-law of Felicien Kabuga, Rwanda's most wanted man, according to court documents. | |
Mr Kabuga, who has a $5m (£3m) bounty on his head from the US, is one of nine people indicted by the ICTR who remain at large. | |
AFP reports if any of the three most wanted are captured, they will be tried by a specially constructed international legal structure, while the files of six others have been sent to Rwanda. | |
The ICTR says on its website that it has completed 71 cases since it was set up under a UN Security Council resolution in November 1994 to try the ringleaders of the genocide. | The ICTR says on its website that it has completed 71 cases since it was set up under a UN Security Council resolution in November 1994 to try the ringleaders of the genocide. |
Ten accused were acquitted while 32 convicts are serving sentences, it says. | Ten accused were acquitted while 32 convicts are serving sentences, it says. |
It is due to close in 2014 after it has finalised 16 appeal cases. | It is due to close in 2014 after it has finalised 16 appeal cases. |
Rwanda's government, which forced the genocidal regime from power, has long criticised the ICTR, accusing it of being too slow and expensive. | |
But ICTR spokesman Roland Amoussouga defended its record, saying that genocide trials at international tribunals are extremely complicated affairs. | |
He told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that witnesses were scattered around the world and the court used three languages. | |
"The ICTR has shown to the whole world that impunity will no longer be tolerated," he said. |