ICTR / Appeals Chamber Hears Oral Arguments in the Zigiranyirazo Case
ARUSHA, Tanzania, September 28, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, composed of Judge Theodor Meron, presiding, Judge Mehmet Güney, Judge Fausto Pocar, Judge Liu Daqun and Judge Carmel Agius, today heard oral arguments regarding the appeal lodged by Protais Zigiranyirazo and the Prosecution against the Judgement rendered by Trial Chamber III on 18 December 2008.
The Trial Chamber found Zigiranyirazo guilty of committing genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity, by participating in a joint criminal enterprise to kill Tutsis at Kesho Hill, in Gisenyi Prefecture, on
8 April 1994, and sentenced him to two terms of 20 years of imprisonment.
He was also found guilty of aiding and abetting genocide in relation to the killing of Tutsis at a roadblock in the Kiyovu area of Kigali and sentenced to one term of 15 years of imprisonment. The Trial Chamber ordered that these sentences be served concurrently.
Zigiranyirazo alleges that the Trial Chamber committed numerous errors of law and fact, and accordingly, requests that the Appeals Chamber overturn
his convictions or, in the alternative, reduce his sentence. The
Prosecution appeals the sentences imposed by the Trial Chamber and requests the Appeals Chamber to impose a life sentence or, alternatively, a total effective sentence, greater than 20 years of imprisonment.
Zigiranyirazo was born on 2 February 1938 in the Giciye Commune, Gisenyi Prefecture, Rwanda. He was the brother-in-law of the late former President of Rwanda, Juvenal Habyarimana. Zigiranyirazo became a Member of Parliament in 1969. In 1973, he was appointed Prefect of Kibuye and then served as Prefect of Ruhengeri from 1974 to 1989. After his resignation, he studied in Canada and returned to Rwanda in 1993 to work as a businessman.
Grégoire Ndahimana Pleads not Guilty
Former mayor of Kivumu, Kibuye prefecture in Rwanda, Grégoire Ndahimana today pleaded not guilty to all the charges brought against him by the Prosecutor. He entered the plea during his initial appearance before Judge Khalida Rachid Khan. Ndahimana was one of the thirteen fugitives who are still at large.
On 10 June 2001, he was indicted by the Tribunal and had been on the run since that time. He is charged with four counts of genocide; or in the alternative, complicity in genocide; conspiracy to commit genocide, and crimes against humanity for extermination.
According to the indictment, Ndahimana is alleged to have been, on or between the dates of 6 April 1994 and 20 April 1994, in Kivumu commune, responsible for killing or causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the Tutsi population. He is alleged to have planned the massacres of members of the population of mostly tutsi ethnic group who had sought
refuge at the Nyange Parish, jointly with Father Athanase Seromba
(sentenced to 15 years in the first instance and to imprisonment for the remainder of his life after dismissal of his appeal) and Fulgence Kayishema (still at large).
Ndahimana, 57, was arrested on 10 August 2009 at Kachuga Camp in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during a combined operation by the ICTR, the United Nations Mission in the DRC (MONUC) and the DRC law enforcement agencies. He was transferred to the United Nations Detention Facility in Arusha on 21 September 2009.
SOURCE
International Penal Tribunal for Rwanda
