Idelphonse Nizeyimana will appear before the ICTR this Wednesday following his arrest in Uganda earlier this month.

By Karl Dowling

Nizeyimana, a prime suspect in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, is facing five counts of genocide, or in the alternative, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide and crimes against humanity.

Nizeyimana is the second ICTR fugitive apprehended in less than two months. The former intelligence chief and captain in the Rwandan Armed Forces is one of four top accused earmarked by Chief Prosecutor Hassan Jallow to be arrested as part of the ICTR completion strategy and brought to trial in Arusha. The United States Rewards for Justice Program offered a $5m bounty for information relating to his arrest.

Nizeyimana is alleged to have ordered the execution of entire families; ordered an attack on orphans evacuated from the Red Cross centre in Kacyiru; supplied transport and weapons to Interahamwe and soldiers; drawn up lists of people, mainly intellectuals and influential Tutsis, to be killed, as well as ordering the killing of Queen Rosalie Gicanda, the widow of former Rwandan king Mutara III, and a symbolic figure for Tutsis.

Prosecutors also allege that Nizeyimana did nothing to stop rapes and sexual assaults; an attack on the parish of Ngoma; and an attack on the University of Rwanda in Butare.

Gatete on trial
Next week also sees the beginning of Jean Baptiste Gatete’s trial at the ICTR. The prosecution case opens on October 19th. Gatete is accused of genocide and crimes against humanity and has been in custody since 2002. The ICTR prosecutor initially requested to refer his case to the Rwandan national courts, but the ICTR appeals chamber denied the request, citing concerns he would not receive a fair trial in Rwanda.

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