ICT genocide acquittals shock Rwanda

“Rwanda is dismayed by these acquittals. It is wrong to acquit the two former cabinet ministers, just like all the other acquittals the tribunal has made. We are totally disappointed,” Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga stated on Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.

“If we have to go by this precedent, then all pending appeals involving cabinet ministers and political leaders should be acquitted. We shall end up with a situation where the tribunal has only prosecuted the rank and file, leaving out the big fish,” Ngoga added.


He noted that the ICT is risking its legacy with the decision.

On Monday, the appeals chamber of the United Nations tribunal, which is based in Arusha, Tanzania, overturned the 30-year sentences of Justin Mugenzi and Prosper Mugiraneza, who were cabinet ministers at the time of the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

In September 2011, the former cabinet ministers were found guilty of conspiracy to commit genocide.

On April 6, 1994, a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down. Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira was also killed in the plane crash.

The Rwandan genocide, in which about 800,000 to one million people, mainly Tutsis, were killed, began after the crash, when Hutus were incited to commit acts of ethnic violence against Tutsis.

All of the details of the double assassination have never come out and investigations continue to this day.

The genocide of 1994 lasted approximately 100 days and hence is called the “100 Days of Hell.”

NT/HGL

Source Article from http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/02/06/287499/ict-genocide-acquittals-shock-rwanda/

You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes