United Nations Radio

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

DIANE: After a trial lasting 5 years, that heard more than 200 witnesses, Colonel Theoneste Bagosura and two other senior officers of the Rwandan army have been sentenced to life imprisonment for their roles in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. A fourth army official, General Gratien Kabiligi, was acquitted of the charges against him. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, in Arusha, Tanzania, which convicted the Colonel Bagosura, found him responsible of the killing of several Rwandan government officials, ten Belgian peacekeepers and other crimes. I spoke to Roland Amoussouga, spokesperson for the Tribunal, about the importance of this decision.

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AMOUSSOUGA: For the victims, this is a key decision that will help them to start healing the wound and bring to a closure the experience that they have gone through. The prosecutor believes strongly that Mr. Bagosora was one of the key masterminds behind the genocide.

Diane: What did Colonel Bogasora actually do as mastermind of the genocide?

AMOUSSOUGA: In the first days after the death of President Habyarimana on 6 April, 1994, Bagosora was the highest military authority in the Rwandan Ministry of Defense with authority over the Rwandan military. He was considered responsible for the killing on 7 April of Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyamana, Mr. Joseph Kavaruganda who was the President of the Constitutional Court as well as Mr. Frederic Nzamurambaho and Mr. Landoald Ndasingwa and for Faustin Rukogoza. Those were opposition party officials and government ministers who were killed immediately in the first hours following the downing of the plane. Mr. Bagosoro was found guilty in connection with the killings also of the ten Belgian Peacekeepers who were killed by Rwandan soldiers at the Camp Kigali on 7 April in the morning. Bagosoro was also responsible for the organized killing perpetrated by soldiers and militiamen at a number of sites throughout Kigali and Gisenyi between 6 and 9 April 1994.

Diane: What did Colonel Bagosoro and the other two, what did they say in their defense?

AMOUSSOUGA: Basically, they had mounted a very powerful defense, very powerful. For instance, when it comes to the alleged conspiracy to commit genocide, which led to the court acquittal on the charge of alleged conspiracy to commit genocide, the defense team disputed that there was a conspiracy. They strongly argued that the Prosecutor relied on evidence like imputablity and drew inference from facts that have not been proven. So some defense teams have also advanced a number of alternative explanations for the events which unfolded. One of them is for instance based on the view that it was the RPF, the Rwandan Patriotic Front currently in power which shot down President Habyarimana's plane on 6 April and that this event, together with other factors, triggered the killings that we witnessed there. So they were able to put forth strong arguments. And one of the 4 accused persons, Mr. Kabiligi, was able to even tender an alibi which led the Chamber to rule in his favour and to find that he was not guilty of all the charges profferred against him by the Prosecutor. So basically the judges have had to go through a very important record which was made of 82 prosecution witnesses and 160 defense witnesses. And the trial also was concluded after 408 days, stretched over 5 years, and it resulted in more than 300 written judicial decisions which were issued in the course of the proceedings. This is just to tell you that the process was extremely thorough, very complex and difficult.

DIANE: Roland Amoussouga, spokesperson for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which today convicted Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, Major Aloys Ntabakuze, and Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Rwanda's 1994 genocide. The Court sentenced all three to life imprisonment.

Producer: Diane Bailey