MutaraRudahigwa
Member
- Dec 3, 2008
- 14
- 1
A UN-backed tribunal has convicted Theoneste Bagosora, a former Rwandan army colonel, of organising the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Two other former military officers were also convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on Thursday for their role in the mass killings of minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
"Colonel Bagosora is guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity and war crimes," the court said.
The tribunal, based in Arusha, Tanzania, accused Bagosora of leading the troops and Interahamwe Hutu fighters that carried out the killings, which left an estimated 800,000 dead.
Prosecutors said Bagosora, formerly a cabinet director in the defence ministry, assumed control of military and political affairs in Rwanda after Juvenal Habyarimana, then Rwanda's president, was killed when his plane was shot down.
Bagosora was said to have stormed out of peace talks in Tanzania saying he was returning to Rwanda to "prepare the apocalypse".
'Brutal and racist'
Two other former military officers were also convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on Thursday for their role in the mass killings of minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
"Colonel Bagosora is guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity and war crimes," the court said.
The tribunal, based in Arusha, Tanzania, accused Bagosora of leading the troops and Interahamwe Hutu fighters that carried out the killings, which left an estimated 800,000 dead.
Prosecutors said Bagosora, formerly a cabinet director in the defence ministry, assumed control of military and political affairs in Rwanda after Juvenal Habyarimana, then Rwanda's president, was killed when his plane was shot down.
Bagosora was said to have stormed out of peace talks in Tanzania saying he was returning to Rwanda to "prepare the apocalypse".
'Brutal and racist'
