The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, composed of Judge Carmel Agius, presiding, Judge Mehmet Güney, Judge Liu Daqun, Judge Arlette Ramaroson, and Judge Andrésia Vaz today affirmed the conviction for aiding and abetting genocide of Dominique Ntawukulilyayo, but reduced his sentence.

On 3 August 2010, Trial Chamber III convicted Ntawukulilyayo of genocide for ordering, as well as aiding and abetting, the killings of Tutsi civilians at Kabuye hill, Butare prefecture, in April 1994. The Trial Chamber sentenced Ntawukulilyayo to 25 years of imprisonment.

The Appeals Chamber found that Ntawukulilyayo was not charged with having ordered the killings at Kabuye hill, and that the Trial Chamber therefore erred in convicting him of ordering genocide for those killings. However, the Appeals Chamber affirmed Ntawukulilyayo’s conviction for aiding and abetting genocide by instructing the refugees who had gathered at Gisagara market to move to Kabuye hill, and by transporting soldiers who participated in the 23 April 1994 attack at Kabuye hill. The Appeals Chamber reduced Ntawukulilyayo’s sentence to a term of 20 years of imprisonment.

During the relevant events, Ntawukulilyayo was the Sub-Prefect of the Gisagara sub-prefecture, in Butare prefecture, a position he maintained until he left Rwanda in July 1994. Ntawukulilyayo was arrested in France on 17 October 2007. He is to remain in the United Nations Detention Facility in Arusha, Tanzania, pending his transfer to the country in which he will serve his sentence.  
The Prosecution was led by Charles Adeogun-Phillips assisted by Ibukunolu Babajide while Counsel Maroufa Diabira from Mauritania represented the accused.