Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, composed of Judge William H. Sekule, presiding, Judge Solomy Balungi Bossa, and Judge Mparany Rajohnson, delivered its Judgement today in the case of Augustin Ngirabatware.

Ngirabatware was arrested on 17 September 2007 in Germany, and was transferred to the Tribunal’s custody on 8 October 2009. The trial commenced on 23 September 2009. The Prosecution presented 27 witnesses, seven of whom testified in rebuttal, and the Defence called 35 witnesses including the Accused himself. The trial closed on 3 July 2012, and the Trial Chamber heard closing arguments on 23, 24 and 25 July 2012. The Trial Chamber convicted Ngirabatware of Genocide, Direct and Public Incitement to Commit Genocide and Rape as a Crime Against Humanity. He was sentenced to 35 years’ imprisonment.

The Trial Chamber found that Ngirabatware directly and publicly incited the killing of Tutsis at the Cyanika-Gisa roadblock in February 1994. It further found that on 7 April 1994, Ngirabatware instigated and aided and abetted the attacks and killings of Tutsis in Nyamyumba commune through his words and actions in distributing weapons at two roadblocks in Nyamyumba commune. At least some of these weapons were used by the Interahamwe militia to kill Tutsis.

The Trial Chamber also found Ngirabatware guilty of participating in a joint criminal enterprise, which was in existence by 7 April 1994, and whose members shared the common purpose of destroying, in whole or in part, the Tutsi ethnic group, and exterminating the Tutsi civilian population in Nyamyumba commune.

The Trial Chamber found Ngirabatware guilty for committing, through this joint criminal enterprise in the extended form, the repeated rapes of a Tutsi woman. Augustin Ngirabatware was born in 1957 in Nyamyumba commune, Gisenyi préfecture, Rwanda. Ngirabatware obtained a PhD in Economic Sciences in 1986, after which he worked in various ministries in the Rwandan government.

During the events of April to July 1994, Ngirabatware served as Minister of Planning in the Interim Government and was also a member of the National Committee of the MRND party, of the Préfecture Committee of the MRND party in Gisenyi, and of the technical committee of Nyamyumba commune, Gisenyi préfecture.