The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) today convicted Dominique Ntawukulilyayo of genocide and sentenced him to 25 years in prison. The judges acquitted the former deputy governor of complicity in genocide and direct and public incitement to commit genocide.

Ntawukulilyayo, 68, was deputy governor - or sub-prefect - of the Gisagara préfecture during the Rwandan genocide of 1994.  An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the hundred day massacre. 

ICTR prosecutor Hassan Jallow had sought a life sentence for Ntawukulilyayo for aiding and co-ordinating the killing of up to 25,000 Tutsis at Kabuye Hill in Gisagara. He was charged with genocide, complicity in genocide and direct and public incitement to commit genocide in 2005.

Between April 20th and 23rd 1994, hundreds of thousands of Tutsis and their families sought refuge at Gisagara market. The ICTR judges found that Ntawukulilyayo promised the refugees that they would be fed and protected at nearby Kabuye Hill, prompting them to go there. However, later that day, Ntawukulilyayo transported soldiers to Kabuye and they joined other assailants in an extensive attack which left an estimated 25,000 Tutsis dead.

Ntawukulilyayo fled to France in 1999 where he lived until his arrest in Carcassone on October 16th, 2005. Eight months later he was transferred to the detention centre of the ICTR in Arusha, Tanzania.

The former deputy governor pleaded not guilty to all charges against him when he made his first appearance before the court in June 2008. Ntawukulilyayo is the third fugitive to be apprehended in France.

ICTR
Since its establishment in 1994, the ICTR has completed 51 cases and acquitted eight people. It has convicted and sentenced former government officials, military officials, militiamen, priests, radio broadcasters and intellectuals from the former extremist Hutu regime for their role in the genocide.

Twenty-three cases are still in progress and three other trials will start in the coming months.

Ten suspects are still at large, including the genocide’s alleged main financier Felicien Kabuga who is believed to be hiding in Kenya.

The court is scheduled to close at the end of 2012 but no decision has yet been taken on what will happen with any remaining suspects when it does. Initial plans to transfer the cases to Kigali were dropped because of concerns that the suspects would not receive a fair trial in Rwanda.