UNITED NATIONS (~ NATION~cI~IES CRIH!.~ALREGISTRY RL :.~-I:VED InternationalCriminal Tribunal for R~u~. Tribunalp~nal international pour le Rw/thi~t~ -b A q: Sb TrialChamber I OR: FR. Before: JudgeLaity Kama, Presiding JudgeLennart Aspegren JudgeNavanethem Pillay Registrar: Mr. Agwu Okali Judgementof: 6 December1999 THE PROSECUTOR VERSUS GEORGES ANDERSON NDERUBUMWE RUTAGANDA Case No. ICTR-96-3-T JUDGEMENT AND SENTENCE TheOffice of theProsecutor: Ms.CarlaDel Ponte Mr.JamesStewart Mr.Udo HerbertGehring Ms.Holo Makwaia DefenceCounsel: Ms. TiphaineDickson UNITED NATIONS NATIONS UNIES ~ InternationalCriminal Tribunal for Rwanda Tribunalp~nal international pourle Rwanda TrialChamber I THE PROSECUTOR VERSUS GEORGES ANDERSON NDERUBUMWE RUTAGANDA Case No. ICTR-96-3-T JUDGEMENT AND SENTENCE CaseNo: ICTR-96-3-T TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION....................................................... 3 1.1 The InternationalTribunal ........................................... 3 1.2. The Indictment................................................... 4 1.3 ProceduralBackground ............................................ 11 1.4 EvidentiaryMatters ............................................... 14 1.5 The Accused..................................................... 18 2 THE APPLICABLELAW ................................................20 2.1Individual Criminal Responsibility ................................... 20 2.2Genocide (Article 2 of the Statute)................................... 24 2.3.Crimes against Humanity (Article 3 of theStatute) ...................... 31 2.4.Serious Violations of CommonArticle 3 (murder)...................... 39 2.5 CumulativeCharges ............................................... 50 3. THE DEFENCECASE ..................................................55 3.1 The DefenceCase ................................................55 4. FACTUALFINDINGS .................................................. 72 4.1.Paragraph 10 of the Indictment...................................... 72 4.2.Paragraph 11 of theIndictment ...................................... 83 4.3.Paragraph 12 of theIndictment ...................................... 91 4.4.Paragraphs 13,14, 15 and16 of theIndictment ......................... 100 4.5.Paragraph 17 of the Indictment..................................... 117 4.6.Paragraph 18 of the Indictment..................................... 121 4.7 Paragraph19 of theIndictment ..................................... 129 4.8General Allegations (Paragraphs 3-9 of theIndictment) .................. 133 CaseNo:ICTR-96-3-T ~ 5. LEGAL FINDINGS.................................................... 143 5.1 Count1: Genocide............................................... 143 5.2Legal Findings - Count 2: Crimesagainst Humanity (extermination) ....... 150 5.3Legal Findings - Count 3: Crimesagainst Humanity (murder) ............. 154 5.4Legal Findings - Count5: Crimesagainst Humanity (murder) ............ 156 5.5Legal Findings - Count 7: Crimesagainst Humanity (murder) ............. 157 5.6Counts 4, 6, and8 - Violationsof Common Article 3 (murder) ............. 159 6. VERDICT............................................................ 163 7. SENTENCING........................................................ 164 2 CaseNo: ICTR-96-3-T 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1The International Tribunal 1. ThisJudgement isrendered by TrialChamber I of theInternational Criminal Tribunal forRwanda (the "Tribunal")compo sedof JudgeLaity Kama, presiding, Judge Lennart Aspegren, andJudge Navanethem Pillay, in thecase of TheProsecutor v. GeorgesAndersonNderubumwe Rutaganda. 2. TheTribunal was established by the United Nations Security Council, pursuant to resolution955 of 8 November1994, after it hadconsidered United Nations Reports I which indicatedthat genocide and systematic, widespread and flagrant violations of international humanitarianlaw had been committed in Rwanda.The Security Council determined that this situationconstituted a threat to international peace and security, and was convinced that the prosecutionofpersons responsible forserious violations ofinternational humanitarian lawwould contributeto the process of national reconciliation andto the restoration andmaintenance of peacein Rwanda. The Security Council established theTribunal, under Chapter VII of the United NationsCharter. 3. TheTribunal is governedby itsStatute (the "Statute") annexed to SecurityCouncil Resolution955, and by its Rules of Procedure and Evidence (the "Rules"), which were adopted by theJudges, on 5 July1995 and subsequently amended) I PreliminaryReport of theCommission of Experts established pursuant to SecurityCouncil resolution 935 (1994),Final Report of theCommission of Experts established pursuant to SecurityCouncil resolution 935 (1994) (DocumentS/1994/1405) and Reports of theSpecial Rapporteur for Rwanda of theUnited Nations Commission on Human Rights(Document S/1994/1157, annexes I andI1). 2 TheRules were successively amended on 12 January1996, 15 May1996, 4 July1996, 5 June1997, 8 June 1998,and 4 June1999. Judgement,Prosecutor versus Rutaganda 3 CaseNo:ICTR-96-3-T ~ .......................¯..¯............. ¯.......................................... ¯..........¯.....,.... ¯,................. ¯..................... ¯..¯.. ¯..... ¯........................................ 1.2 TheIndictment 4. TheIndictment (the "Indictment") against Georges Anderson Nderubumwe Rutaganda (the"Accused") was submitted by theProsecutor on 13 February1996 and was confirmed 16February 1996. The Indictment is set out here in full: "TheProsecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, pursuant to his authorityunder Article 17 of theStatute of theTribunal charges: GEORGES ANDERSON NDERUBUMWE RUTAGANDA with GENOCIDE, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITYand VIOLATIONS OF ARTICLE 3 COMMON TO THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS,as set forth below: Background 1. On April6, 1994,a planecarrying President Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda and President CyprienNtaryamira of Burundi crashed at Kigaliairport, killing all on board.Following the deathsof the two Presidents, widespread killings, having both political and ethnic dimensions, beganin Kigaliand spread to otherparts of Rwanda. The Accused 2. GeorgesRUTAGANDA, born in 1958in Masangocommune, Gitarama prefecture, was an agriculturalengineer and businessman; he was general manager and proprietor of Rutaganda SARL¯ GeorgesRUTAGANDA was also a memberof the Nationaland Prefectoral Committeesof theMouvement Rdpublicain National pour le Ddveloppementet la Ddmocratie (hereinafter,"MRND")anda shareholder of RadioT~ldvision Libre des Mille Collines. On April6, 1994,he wasserving as thesecond vice president of theNational Committee of the Judgement,Prosecutor versus Rutaganda 4 GeneralAllegations 3.Unless otherwise specified, allacts set forth in this indictment took place between 1 January 1994and 31 December1994 in theprefectures of Kigali and Gitarama, territory of Rwanda. 4.In eachparagraph charging genocide, a crime recognized by Article 2 of theStatute of the Tribunal,thealleged acts were committed with intent to destroy, inwhole or in part, a national, ethnicalorracial group. 5¯The victims in eachparagraph charging genocide were members of a national,ethnical, racial orreligious group. 6. Ineach paragraph charging crimes against humanity, crimes punishable by Article 3 of the Statuteof theTribunal, the alleged acts were committed as part of a widespreadorsystematic attackagainst a civilian population onpolitical, ethnic or racial grounds. 7.At all times relevant tothis indictment, a state of internal armed conflict existed in Rwanda. 8.The victims referred toin this indictment were, at all relevant times, persons taking no active partin the hostilities. 9. Theaccused is individuallyresponsible for the crimes alleged in thisindictment. Under Article6(1) of the Statute ofthe Tribunal, individual criminal responsibility isattributable toone whoplans, instigates, orders, commits or otherwise aids and abets in theplanning, preparation orexecution ofany of the crimes referred toin Articles 2 to 4 ofthe Statute of theTribunal. Judgement,Prosecutor versus Rutaganda 5 CaseNo: ICTR-96-3-T ~ ~[~ Char~es 10.On or aboutApril 6, 1994,Georges RUTAGANDA distributed guns and other weapons to Interahamwemembers in Nyarugengecommune, Kigali. 11. On or aboutApril 10, 1994, Georges RUTAGANDA stationed Interahamwe members at a roadblocknear his office at the"Amgar" garage in Kigali.Shortly after he left the area, the Interahamwemembers started checking identity cards of peoplepassing the roadblock. The Interahamwemembers ordered persons with Tutsi identity cards to stand on oneside of the road. Eightof theTutsis were then killed. The victims included men, women and an infantwho had beencarried on theback of one of thewomen. 12.In April 1994, on a dateunknown, Tutsis who had been separated at a roadblockinfront of the Amgargarage were taken to GeorgesRUTAGANDA and questioned by him.He thereafter directedthat these Tutsis be detainedwith others at a nearbybuilding. Later, Georges RUTAGANDAdirected men under his control to take10 Tutsidetainees to a deep,open hole nearthe Amgar garage. On GeorgesRUTAGANDA’s orders, his men killed the 10 Tutsiswith machetesand threw their bodies into the hole. 13.From April 7 to April11, 1994, thousands of unarmedTutsi men, women and children and someunarmed Hutus sought refuge at theEeole Technique Officielle ("ETO school") Kicukirosector, Kicukiro commune. The ETO schoolwas considered a safe haven because Belgiansoldiers, part of theUnited Nations Assistance