Nzabonimana’s ICTR sentence contested

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Hassan Bubacar Jallow, has challenged some findings of the lower court in the judgment of former Rwanda Minister of Youth and Associate Movements, Callixte Nzabonimana.ICTR is now operating under the recently created International Residue Mechanism.Nzabonimana was in May this year sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.“We filed a notice of appeal several days ago to oppose some findings of the Trial Chamber judgment delivered on May 31, 2012“, James Arguin, Chief of Appeals and Legal Advisory Division in the Prosecutor’s office told agencies on Monday.In the judgement, the trial Chamber also found Nzabonimana guilty of three separate incidents of directly and publicly inciting the killing of Tutsis at the Butare trading centre on or about 12 April 1994, at Cyayi centre on 14 April 1994, and at Murambi on 18 April 1994.In the appeal, Jallow is asking the Appeals Chamber to convict Nzabonimana of incitement to commit genocide for his words and actions a day before a massacre that took place in Nyabikenke Commune on April 15, 1994.“The Appeals Chamber should find that Nzabonimana is responsible under count one (genocide) and four (extermination) for committing this massacre because his conduct was an integral part of the crime. Alternatively (it) should find (him) responsible for ordering the massacre,” Arguin is quoted as stating.Prosecution maintains that the massacre took place because Nzabonimana in his full knowledge released killers who were imprisoned in Rutobwe Commune for their actions.The lower court found that Nzabonimana encouraged the killings by orchestrating the release of Tutsi killers, but could not hold him responsible for prosecution’s failure to prove specific crimes they committed after being freed and that such discharge had a role in commission of crimes.“The Appeals Chamber should reverse the acquittal and convict Nzabonimana under count one for genocide on the basis of these killings,” the prosecutor added.Born in 1953, the former minister was arrested on February 18, 2008, in Tanzania. His trial opened on November 9, 2009 and was concluded on September 12, 2011.

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Nzabonimana’s ICTR sentence contested