16 Dec 11 - Survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda have responded with incredulity to the decision by the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), in Arusha, Tanzania, to reduce the sentences of several ringleaders of the genocide this week.
Theoneste Bagosora, former head of the Ministry of Defence and Anatole Nsengiyumva, former army commander in Gisenyi, both sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide and crimes against humanity, saw their sentences reduced to 35 years and 15 years respectively after the Appeals Chamber overturned some, but not all, of their convictions for these crimes. For Nsengiyumva, arrested in 1996, this meant instant freedom. Dominique Ntawukulilyayo, 69, former sub prefect of Gisagara in Butare, also had his sentence cut from 25 to 20 years, though the original decision that he substantially aided the killing of thousands of civilians at Kabuye Hill was upheld.
“I’m deeply shocked by these decisions of the ICTR Appeals Chamber,” says Freddy Mutanguha, Rwandan Country Director for the Aegis Trust, himself a survivor of the genocide. “Were the lives of all our loved ones worth so little that those who planned and executed their destruction should be walking free already? Next week it’s Christmas, but this is like giving King Herod a slap on the wrist for the slaughter of the innocents. It sends completely the wrong message, both to perpetrators and to victims. To be honest, it’s left many survivors here with a sense of outrage bordering on despair.”
Dr James Smith, Chief Executive of the Aegis Trust, is in Kigali this week. The genocide prevention group responsible for the Kigali Genocide Memorial, Aegis runs education programmes countering mistrust and divisions in Rwandan society. It also supports destitute survivors.
“I’ve been talking to orphans and widows of the genocide who 17 years on still need our help and support to put their lives back together, and they’ve been left totally bewildered by this,” Dr Smith says. “They see an international community that did nothing to save them in 1994 now going easy on those who butchered their families. I understand there is a process in the Appeals Chamber to abide by, but I hope the judges haven’t lost sight of the gravity of the crimes for which these men have been convicted. We should find it in our hearts to send a message of support to survivors – to rebuild their lives, broken by people prosecuted at the ICTR, and to educate young people for the sake of a secure future.”
For a detailed report from Arusha on the ICTR decisions this week, see this report by Andrew Wallis.
To support the Aegis Trust’s work in Rwanda and send a message of hope to survivors this Christmas, click here.
