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Appeals Chamber Affirms Convictions and Sentences of Munyakazi and Setako

Appeals Chamber of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda today affirmed The the convictions and sentences of Lieutenant Colonel Ephrem Setako, former head of the Division of Legal Affairs in the Ministry of Defence, and Yussuf Munyakazi, former landowner and farmer in Bugarama, Cyangugu. Setako and Munyakazi were convicted on 25 February and 30 June 2010, respectively, and sentenced to 25 years in prison by Trial Chamber I.

In Setako’s appeal, the Appeals Chamber composed of Judges Patrick Robinson, presiding, Mehmet Güney, Fausto Pocar, Liu Daqun and Carmel Agius dismissed his appeal in its entirety and affirmed his convictions for genocide for ordering the 25 April and 11 May 1994 killings of Tutsi at Mukamira Military Camp; and for extermination as a crime against humanity, and for violence to life, health, and physical or mental well-being of persons (murder) as a serious violation of Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and of Additional Protocol II.

The Appeals Chamber granted the Prosecution’s appeal in part. It entered, Judge Pocar dissenting, a new conviction for murder as a serious violation of Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and of Additional Protocol II in relation to the killings on 11 May 1994. Judge Pocar appended a partially dissenting opinion to the Appeal Judgement. However, the Appeals Chamber ruled that this did not warrant an increase in Setako’s sentence.

Affirming his sentence of 25 years of imprisonment, the Appeals Chamber ordered that it was subject to credit being given under the Rules 101(C) and 107 of the Rules for the period Setako has already spent in detention since his arrest on 25 February2004.

In the case of Munyakazi, the Appeals Chamber was composed of Judges Patrick Robinson, presiding, Mehmet Güney, Liu Daqun, Andrésia Vaz and Carmel Agius.

The Appeals Chamber affirmed Munyakazi’s convictions for genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity based on his role in the killings of Tutsi at Shangi and Mibilizi Parishes on 29 and 30 April 1994, respectively. In affirming his sentence of 25 years’ imprisonment, it ordered that the sentence was subject to credit being given for the period he has already spent in detention since his arrest on 5 May 2004. The Appeals Chamber dismissed the Prosecution’s appeal in its entirety.

Setako was born in 1949 in Nkuli Commune, Ruhengeri Prefecture. He was arrested in The Netherlands on 25 February 2004 and transferred to the United Nations Detention Facility (UNDF) in Arusha on 17 November 2004. Munyakazi was born in 1936 in Rwamatamu Commune, Kibuye Prefecture. He was arrested in the Democratic Republic of Congo on 5 May 2004 and transferred to the UNDF in Arusha on 7 May 2004.

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