RUGGIU 1 JUNE 2000 1 2 3 4 THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR RWANDA 5 6 CASE NO: ICTR-97-32-I THE PROSECUTOR OF THE TRIBUNAL 7 AGAINST 8 GEORGES RUGGIU 9 10 JUNE 1, 2000 1000H 11 JUDGMENT 12 Before: 13 Madam Judge Navanethem Pillay, President Judge Eric Møse 14 Judge Pavel Dolenc 15 For the Registry: Ms. Aminatta N'gum 16 Mr. Edward Matemanga 17 For the Prosecution: Mr. Mohamed Othman 18 Mr. William T. Egbe Mr. Elvis Bazawule 19 For the Accused: 20 Mr. Mohamed Aouini Mr. Jean Louis Gilissen 21 Court Reporter: 22 Ms. Noorjahan Pirani-Hirji 23 24 25 ICTR - CHAMBER I 1 RUGGIU 1 JUNE 2000 1 PROCEEDINGS COMMENCING AT 1005H 2 3 JUDGMENT OF THE CHAMBER DELIVERED BY THE HONOURABLE 4 MADAM JUDGE PILLAY: 5 6 MADAM JUDGE PILLAY: 7 This session is open. Will the 8 representative of the Registry call the 9 roll. 10 MS. N'GUM: 11 Thank you, Madam President. 12 13 Trial Chamber 1 of the International 14 Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, composed of 15 Judge Navanethem Pillay, presiding; Judge 16 Erik Møse; and Judge Pavel Dolenc; is now 17 sitting in open session, today, the 1st of 18 June 2000, for the delivery of the 19 Judgment in the matter of the Prosecutor 20 versus Georges Ruggiu, Case Number 21 ICTR-97-32-I. 22 23 Thank you, Your Honours. 24 MADAM PRESIDENT PILLAY: 25 Thank you, Ms N'gum. Noorjahan Pirani-Hirji - OFFICIAL REPORTER ICTR - CHAMBER I 2 RUGGIU 1 JUNE 2000 1 2 I notice the presence of Georges Ruggiu in 3 court; will Counsel place themselves on 4 the record. For the Prosecution? 5 MR. OTHMAN: 6 Thank you, Madam President. The 7 Prosecution is represented by myself, 8 Mohamed Othman and to my right, William 9 Egbe and Mr. Elvis Bazawule. 10 MADAM PRESIDENT PILLAY: 11 Thank you. Defence? 12 MR. AOUINI: 13 Good morning, Madam President. Your 14 Honours, good morning. I am Aouini, 15 Mohamed, lead Counsel. 16 MR. GILISSEN: 17 Madam President, Your Honours, I am Jean 18 Louis Gilissen from Liege, Belgium, 19 co-counsel. 20 MADAM JUDGE PILLAY: 21 This is a session of Trial Chamber 1 22 called for the purpose of delivering the 23 Judgment in the matter of Georges Ruggiu, 24 and I will ask the security then to escort 25 Mr. Ruggiu to the front of the Chamber. Noorjahan Pirani-Hirji - OFFICIAL REPORTER ICTR - CHAMBER I 3 RUGGIU 1 JUNE 2000 1 2 Mr. Ruggiu, you may take your seat. 3 4 Mr. Ruggiu, on the 15th May of this year, 5 having been authorized to change your 6 plea, you pleaded guilty to two counts set 7 forth in the indictment against you. And 8 you confirmed that you signed a Plea 9 Agreement which was also signed by both, 10 your Counsel and the Prosecutor, in which 11 you admitted having committed all the acts 12 to which you pled guilty, as charged in 13 the indictment. 14 15 Under Count 1, the Prosecutor charges you 16 with Direct and Public Incitement to 17 Commit Genocide, a crime punishable under 18 Article 2(3)(c) of this Statute. 19 20 The mens rea required for this crime lies 21 in the intent to directly prompt or 22 provoke another to commit genocide. 23 24 Now, at the time that the Genocide 25 Convention was adopted, the delegates Noorjahan Pirani-Hirji - OFFICIAL REPORTER ICTR - CHAMBER I 4 RUGGIU 1 JUNE 2000 1 agreed to expressly spell out Direct and 2 Public Incitement to Commit Genocide as a 3 specific crime, in particular, because of 4 its critical role in the planning of a 5 genocide. 6 7 In this regard, the delegate from the USSR 8 stated that "it was impossible that 9 hundreds of thousands of people should 10 commit so many crimes unless they had been 11 incited to do so, and unless the crimes 12 had been premeditated and carefully 13 organized." He asked, "how, in those 14 circumstances, the inciters and organizers 15 of the crime could be allowed to escape 16 punishment when they were the ones really 17 responsible for the atrocities committed". 18 19 The Rwandan Penal Code provides that 20 Direct and Public Incitement or 21 Provocation is a form of complicity and 22 that an "accomplice" shall mean a person 23 who, through speeches, shouting or threats 24 uttered in public places, or through the 25 dissemination of printed matter in public Noorjahan Pirani-Hirji - OFFICIAL REPORTER ICTR - CHAMBER I 5 RUGGIU 1 JUNE 2000 1 places, directly incites perpetrators to 2 commit such action. 3 4 And the public element of incitement to 5 commit genocide, in light of the two 6 factors is: The place where the 7 incitement occurred and whether or not 8 assistance was selective or limited. 9 10 According to the International Law 11 Commission, Public Incitement is 12 characterized by a call for criminal 13 action to a number of individuals in a 14 public place or to members of the general 15 public at large by such means as the radio 16 or television. 17 18 In the instant case, your acts constitute 19 Public Incitement, in that, you broadcast 20 messages on the public media forum to 21 members of the general public. 22 23 Under Count 2, you are charged for Crimes 24 Against Humanity (Persecution). 25 Noorjahan Pirani-Hirji - OFFICIAL REPORTER ICTR - CHAMBER I 6 RUGGIU 1 JUNE 2000 1 The Trial Chamber has examined legal 2 precedent related to the crime of 3 persecution, including the Judgment of 4 Julius Streicher in the Neuremberg Trials. 5 And here, the Neuremberg Tribunal held 6 that the publisher of a private 7 anti-semitic weekly newspaper called the 8 Der Sturmer, incited the German population 9 to actively persecute the Jewish people. 10 And the Tribunal found that Streicher's 11 incitement to murder and extermination at 12 the time when Jews in the East were being 13 killed under the most horrible conditions, 14 clearly constitutes persecution on 15 political and racial grounds. And so the 16 Streicher Judgment is particularly 17 relevant to the present case, since you, 18 like Streicher, infected people's minds 19 with ethnic hatred. 20 21 Now the mens rea for Crimes Against 22 Humanity (Persecution), is the intent to 23 commit the underlying offence, combined 24 with knowledge of the broader context in 25 which that offence occurs. Part of what Noorjahan Pirani-Hirji - OFFICIAL REPORTER ICTR - CHAMBER I 7 RUGGIU 1 JUNE 2000 1 transforms an individual's acts into a 2 Crime Against Humanity is the inclusion of 3 the act within a greater dimension of 4 criminal conduct involving widespread or 5 systematic attack on a civilian 6 population. 7 8 The Trial Chamber considers that when 9 examining the acts of persecution, which 10 have been admitted by you, it is possible 11 to discern a common element. Those acts 12 committed by you were direct and public 13 radio broadcasts, all aimed at singling 14 out and attacking the Tutsi ethnic group 15 and Belgians, on discriminatory grounds, 16 by depriving them of the fundamental 17 rights to life, liberty and basic 18 humanity. 19 20 There is no material disagreement between 21 Prosecution and Defence Counsel and you, 22 about the facts in support of the two 23 Counts of the indictment. The Chamber, 24 therefore concludes, that the guilty plea 25 that you tendered is based on sufficient Noorjahan Pirani-Hirji - OFFICIAL REPORTER ICTR - CHAMBER I 8 RUGGIU 1 JUNE 2000 1 facts, firstly, for the crimes charged and 2 secondly, for your participation. 3 4 Accordingly, Mr. Ruggiu, the Court finds 5 you guilty of the crime of Direct and 6 Public Incitement to Commit Genocide and 7 of Crime Against Humanity (Persecution). 8 9 I will now review the principles that the 10 Chamber considered in assessing the 11 penalty that should be meted out to you. 12 13 The only penalty the Tribunal can impose 14 on an accused who pleads guilty or is 15 convicted, is a prison term of 16 imprisonment. The Statute provides for 17 maximum penalty of life imprisonment. 18 19 The Trial Chamber has considered all 20 relevant information submitted by the 21 Prosecutor and by your Counsel, on your 22 behalf. A review of your Plea Agreement 23 reveals that you have made the following 24 admissions about your personal background: 25 Noorjahan Pirani-Hirji - OFFICIAL REPORTER ICTR - CHAMBER I 9 RUGGIU 1 JUNE 2000 1 You admitted that you were a social worker 2 who worked for the Belgian Social Security 3 Administration. On a voluntary basis, you 4 assisted people in need. Your interest in 5 Rwandan politics developed progressively 6 and from about the middle of 1992, you 7 established contacts with the Rwandan 8 nationals living in Belgium, including 9 students, political figures, diplomats and 10 government officials. 11 12 You were one of the founders and an active 13 member of the "Groupe de reflexion 14 rwando-belge", which published several 15 articles about the Arusha Accords and the 16 Rwandan political situation. 17 18 You progressively became one of the key 19 players in the Rwandan community in 20 Belgium and participated in major 21 political debates. In early 1993, you 22 became radically opposed to the Rwandan 23 Patriotic Front, the RPF, and more 24 supportive of the political regime in 25 Rwanda.