Jean Uwinkindi will continue to serve his life sentence after the Court of Appeal on Thursday, December 24, found no reasonable ground for his appeal. Uwinkindi, 69, was in 2015 convicted of genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity by the High Court. The 69-year-old who was a pastor at a Pentecostal church in the current Bugesera District during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, is said to have masterminded the killings of the Tutsi at Rwankeri and Kanzenze hills in the area. According to prosecution, between 100 and 150 Tutsi had sought refuge at Kayenzi Pentecostal church where Uwinkindi was a pastor. Appealing against the decision by the High Court, the genocide convict had said that he was not given enough resources to hire private investigators for his defence, and that he was not given the defence lawyers he wanted. At first, Uwinkindi’s lawyers were Gatera Gashabana and Jean Baptiste Niyibizi – who opted out of the case because they were not pleased with the payment terms. Later, the Rwanda Bar Association assigned him other lawyers; Joseph Ngabonziza and Isacar Hishamunda. Normally, the bar appoints lawyers to represent the suspect pro bono (for free) if the suspect has shown he is indigent and cannot afford their own lawyer. Announcing the verdict on Thursday, the judge said a suspect only has the right to choose their lawyers when they (suspects) have the means to pay them, but when it’s on pro bono basis, the bar association is the one to assign given lawyers on their roll. On the other claim that Uwinkindi was not assisted with enough financial means to hire investigators, court held that his lawyers had admitted that they had all the means and capabilities to collect evidence that may be used in court, therefore announcing the assertion as unfounded. The convict who was arrested on June 30, 2010, in Kampala, Uganda, was transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on July 2, 2010. In November 2010, the ICTR requested his referral to Rwanda owing to the fact that the UN court was winding up it’s activities. On June 29, 2011, ICTR Referral Chamber ruled in favour of his extradition. At all times, Uwinkindi pleaded not guilty of all the charges against him. He is currently incarcerated at Nyanza Prison, from where he was based while attending Thursday’s ruling online.
