• Most Popular
  • Most Shared

Rwanda governor jailed for life for genocide

Tue Jul 14, 2009 6:18am EDT
* Tharcisse Renzaho guilty of genocide, rape and murder

* Indictment said he ordered killing of 60 boys



By George Obulutsa

DAR ES SALAAM, July 14 (Reuters) - A U.N. court trying the architects of Rwanda's 1994 genocide jailed a former Kigali governor for life on five counts including ordering the killing of 60 Tutsi boys in a church-run pastoral centre.

The Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) had indicted Tharcisse Renzaho of genocide, complicity in genocide, murder and rape in the massacres in which 800,000 minority Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed.

The court found him guilty of all except complicity in genocide.

"He has been imprisoned for life. He has been found guilty on five counts, that is of genocide, two counts of murder as crimes against humanity, two counts of rape as crimes against humanity, " Danford Mpumilwa, associate information officer, said from the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha, the court's seat.

Prosecutors said he was one of the massacre's main perpetrators. His name figured among nine major suspects for which the U.S. government had put out a $5 million bounty.

The court said Renzaho took part in arming participants of the genocide. He had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

The court accused him, along with others, of ordering the removal and killing of 60 Tutsi boys from a church-run pastoral centre. Prosecutors say Renzaho was near a Kigali hotel when an army tank shot at Tutsi houses, killing at least 40 people. He did not try to intervene.

The 65-year-old was also accused of broadcasting orders over Radio Rwanda asking police, soldiers and militia to construct and supervise roadblocks to intercept, identify and kill Tutsis.

The former army colonel was arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002.

Six other prime suspects with bounties are still at large including Felicien Kabuga, said to be the main financier of the genocide.

Renzaho's sentencing brings the number of ICTR's judgements to 39. Six of these were acquittals.

The court had until the end of last year to complete all trials, and until 2010 to hear all appeals before winding up. (Editing by Richard Balmforth)




Congo



More from Reuters

visits a condominium for sale with her real estate agents in Somerville, Massachusetts April 2, 2009.  REUTERS/Brian Snyder

On shaky ground

The bubble has burst and the economy is bottoming out. So why are Americans still hesitant to buy new homes?  Full Article 

REUTERS/Handout/MFS Utilities

The relentless investor

Ever the contrarian, fund manager Maura Shaughnessy finds ways to make money amid the market meltdown -- even if it means kicking executives in the shin.  Full Article