Features

December 18, 2008

ICTR decisions a step forward for international justice

The conviction of three senior Rwandan army officers at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for their role in organizing and carrying out the 1994 Rwandan genocide that killed over 800,000 people is a significant development in achieving accountability for those crimes, ICTJ said.

Colonel Théoneste Bagosora, Director of Cabinet in the Rwandan Ministry of Defence; Major Aloys Ntabakuze, commander of the Para Commando Battalion; and Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva, commander of the Operational Sector of Gisenyi, were convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes on Dec. 18. All three were sentenced to life imprisonment.

"This ICTR judgment is very significant, as Théoneste Bagosora is widely assumed to have been one of the architects of the genocide against the Tutsis committed in Rwanda in 1994," said Cécile Aptel, a senior fellow at ICTJ's Prosecutions Program. "His conviction demonstrates the power of international justice in holding the most senior perpetrators accountable for grave international crimes."