1 TABLE OF CONTENTS TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................... 2 I CHARGE AND DEFENCE ........................................................................................................................... 4 II EVIDENCE .................................................................................................................................................. 19 III JURISDICTION OF THE COURT ......................................................................................................... 24 IV REASONING OF THE DECISION OF THE DISTRICT COURT ..................................................... 26 1. ETHNIC RELATIONS AND POLITICAL SITUATION IN RWANDA UP TO 1994 .............................. 26 2. GENOCIDE AS DEFINED BY CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS AND IN RWANDA IN 1994 .............. 27 3. GACACA SYSTEM ..................................................................................................................................... 33 4. ON THE OVERALL RELIABILITY OF THE EVIDENCE ....................................................................... 34 5. ALLEGATION OF TORTURE AND USABILITY OF WITNESS ACCOUNTS ..................................... 40 6. ACTUAL AUTHORITY OF BAZARAMBA IN HIS COMMUNITY ....................................................... 49 7. BAZARAMBA’S COMPLICITY IN ACTS OF GENOCIDE ..................................................................... 51 7.1 Bazaramba’s alibi ............................................................................................................................ 51 7.2. Inflicting on Tutsis living in Maraba sector and its surroundings conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction in whole or in part ............................................................. 52 7.2.1 Dissemination of propaganda and incitement of Hutus to kill.........................................52 7.2.2 Road blocks and night patrols..........................................................................................59 7.2.3 Bazaramba’s complicity in forcing Tutsis to leave their homes and in destroying their homes ..............................................................................................................................62 7.2.4 Bazaramba’s role in distributing to Hutus property appropriated from Tutsis.................66 7.3 Killings ........................................................................................................................................... 68 7.3.1 Training relating to the killings and acts of violence, and procurement of weapons.......68 7.3.2 Maraba sector and its surroundings..................................................................................71 7.3.2.1 Five unidentified Tutsi men ............................................................................... 71 7.3.2.2 Emmanuel, Dina, a Tutsi woman by the name of Agnes Mukamutesi and an unidentified Tutsi woman .................................................................................. 72 7.3.2.3 Bellansilla Mugagashugi ................................................................................... 80 7.3.2.4 12-year-old Tutsi boy by the name of Mujemana ............................................. 87 7.3.2.5 Agnes and an infant child .................................................................................. 90 7.3.2.6 Tutsi man by the name of Anderea .................................................................... 92 7.3.2.7 Tutsi woman by the name of Beatrice ............................................................... 93 7.3.3 Cyahinda church and its surroundings..............................................................................96 7.3.4 Mount Nyakizu and its surroundings.............................................................................101 8. APPLICABLE LAW ................................................................................................................................... 110 9. FINDINGS OF GUILT AND DISMISSALS OF CHARGES .................................................................... 110 10. SENTENCING .......................................................................................................................................... 112 WITNESS STATEMENTS ENCLOSED WITH THE JUDGMENT 2 TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS DRC Democratic Republic of Congo FAR Rwandese Armed Forces FPR Front Patriotique Rwandaise (also RPF) HRW Human Rights Watch ICTR International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda Ibuka national genocide survivors’ association Inkotanyi a term used to refer to members of the RFP, i.e. the Rwandese Patriotic Front. The word literally means “fierce fighter” and originally referred to the militia of the 19th-century king Rwabugiri Interahamwe a trained paramilitary group consisting of Hutus who played a key role in the acts of genocide Inyenzi a Kinyarwandan word for “cockroach”, commonly used to refer to the RFP MDR Mouvement démocratique républicain MRND Mouvement révolutionnaire national pour le développement from 1975 to 1991; from 1991, Mouvement républicain national pour le développement et la démocratie OPAM Organisation for HIV Positive African Men PDistrict Court Parti démocrate chrétien (Christian Democratic Party) PDI Parti démocrate islamique PL Parti libéral PSD Parti sociale démocrate RTLM Radio Télevision Libre des Mille Collines RPA Rwandese Patriotic Army RPF Rwandese Patriotic Front, the same as the French FPR UEBR Union des Eglises Baptistes au Rwanda (Union of Baptist Churches of Rwanda) UNAMIR United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees 3 VASA A witness for the defendant whose name was ordered not to be disclosed and who was heard in the absence of the public; decisions nos. 812 of 7 September 2009, 1201 of 4 December 2009 and 2 of 5 January 2010 4 I CHARGE AND DEFENCE The defendant has been indicted for the following offences: A PRIMARY CHARGE: GENOCIDE Criminal Code, Chapter 13:4 (987/1974) 1 January 1993 – 31 May 1994 Abroad (Republic of Rwanda, Butare prefecture, Nyakizu commune, Maraba sector and its surroundings, Cyahinda church and its surroundings, and Mount Nyakizu and its surroundings) 1 BACKGROUND 1.1 The native population of Rwanda is made up of three ethnic groups: the Hutu, the Tutsi and the Twa. The Hutu and the Tutsi are the largest of the groups. The majority of the population is Hutu. 1.2 Until 1959, Rwanda was a monarchy led by a Tutsi monarch. The form of government changed from monarchy to republic in 1959 when the Tutsi monarch was overthrown by the Hutu. 1.3 The tensions between the Hutu and the Tutsi originating in the colonial era simmered beneath the surface until 6 April 1994, on which date they erupted into genocide. The genocide is deemed to have started in earnest at the moment when the airplane carrying President of the Republic of Rwanda Juvénal Habyarimana and President of the Republic of Burundi Cyprien Ntaryamira, who had been conducting peace talks concerning the Republic of Rwanda in Tanzania, crashed at the airport in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. 1.4 The administrative vacuum arising from the death of President Habyarimana allowed the Hutu Power party, representing extremist Hutus, and the interim government formed by it to declare itself to be in control of the country. Following this, the Rwandan army and the Interahamwe militia established by President Habyarimana set up roadblocks around Kigali. Across the country, the Presidential Guard, the militia and other paramilitary organisations started to kill Tutsis as well as moderate Hutus who supported peace and power-sharing. On 12 April, when the Rwandan authorities announced on Radio Rwanda that,” we need to unite against the enemy, the only enemy and this is the enemy that we have always known...it’s the enemy who wants to reinstate the former feudal monarchy”, it became clear that the Tutsi were the target of wide- spread, systematic and extremely brutal genocide. The Hutu intended to destroy the Tutsi in whole. 1.5 The genocide reached its peak in the period between 14 and 21 April 1994. After the president of the interim government, the prime minister and some key ministers had travelled to Butare and Gikongoro, the killings started also in these regions, which despite the planning and preparation conducted in the local security councils established specifically for this purpose had remained peaceful until then. Thousands of people, unsuspecting and often encouraged by local officials, gathered in churches, schools, hospitals and other public buildings in hopes of finding safety. In reality, they were led into traps to ensure rapid and as widespread as possible extermination. 1.6 The genocide in which neither women, children nor the elderly were spared continued until 18 July 1994, when Kigali was occupied by the RFP, a movement formed by the Tutsi. 1.7 The genocide claimed from 500,000 to 1,000,000 or more victims, a large number of people furthermore being injured or maimed and most of them suffering permanent mental or physical injury. 2 ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE OF RWANDA 5 2.1 Rwanda is divided into eleven prefectures, each of which is governed by a prefect. The prefectures in turn are divided into sub-prefectures and communes, the latter being headed by burgomasters, i.e. mayors appointed by the president. The communes are divided into sectors and cells headed by councilmen and responsables.