The Appeals Chamber of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda today confirmed the sentence for Emmanuel Ndindabahizi, former Minister of Finance of the Interim Government, to imprisonment for the remainder of his life.

The Appeals Chamber composed of Judges Wolfgang Schomburg, presiding, Mohamed Shahabuddeen, Mehmet Güney, Liu Daqun and Theodor Meron upheld Emmanuel Ndindabahizi’s convictions for genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity for his participation in the events at Gitwa Hill in late April 1994 which led to the death of thousands of Tutsi.

The Appeals Chamber vacated only Emmanuel Ndindabahizi’s convictions for genocide and murder in relation to the killing of one victim at Gaseke roadblock.

However, the Appeals Chamber held that there is only one genocide that was committed in Rwanda between 6 April 1994 and 17 July 1994, resulting in the killings of hundreds of thousands of Tutsi. Emmanuel Ndindabahizi’s individual criminal responsibility has to be measured according to the entirety of his own contributions to this ”crime of crimes”. Consequently, the Appeals Chamber unanimously held that Emmanuel Ndindabahizi’s acquittal for the killing of a single victim at the Gaseke roadblock does not materially diminish the gravity of Emmanuel Ndindabahizi’s criminal conduct seen in its entirety.

On 15 July 2004 Trial Chamber I found Emmanuel Ndindabahizi guilty of two counts of crimes against humanity (Extermination and murder), and one count of genocide. Emmanuel Ndindabahizi was arrested in Verviers, Belgium, on 12 July 2001 and transferred to the Tribunal’s detention facility in Arusha on 25 September 2001. It still has to be determined in which country Emmanuel Ndindabahizi will serve his sentence.