General Augustine Ndindiliyimana, the former Chief of Staff of the Gendarmerie Nationale, was transferred to the Tribunal’s Detention Facility in Arusha from Belgium on Saturday 22 April 2000. He was arrested in the Belgian town of Termonde on 29 January 2000, on the basis of a warrant of arrest issued by the ICTR.

General Ndindiliyimana is to answer to ten counts charging him with genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Conventions. He is alleged to have participated in planning and preparing the massacre of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda in 1994.

According to the indictment the crimes which included sexual violence and rape of Tutsi women had been planned and prepared for a long time by prominent civilian, military personnel and gendarmes on the orders and directives of authorities including General Ndindiliyimana.

The indictment states that the crimes were committed by the accused and others personally, by persons they assisted or by their subordinates, and with their knowledge and consent.

It is further alleged that General Ndindiliyimana and other senior Government and Army officials failed to prevent or punish the perpetrators when elements of the Gendarmerie, the Rwandan Army and the Interahamwe carried out the massacre of Tutsis.

General Ndindiliyimana was born in 1943, in Nyaruhengeri commune, Butare Prefecture. He was appointed to the position of Chief of Staff of the Gendarmerie Nationale on 2 September 1992.

The Tribunal has in the meantime requested the services of a Duty Counsel to assist the accused pending the designation of a Counsel by the accused or, if found indigent, assignment of a Counsel as per the Rules and guidelines of the ICTR.