UN Photo/Violaine Mart – A memorial to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda is unveiled at the United Nations in Geneva. (archive)in
New York, USA, July 05, 2023-/African Media Agency(AMA)/The United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, on Monday welcomed the recent verdict handed down by a French court, sentencing a former Rwandan gendarme, Philippe Hategekimana, to life imprisonment for crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Rwanda in 1994.
The verdict comes after the fifth such trial of alleged perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda by French courts, Ms. Nderitu’s office said in a press release.
Arrested in Cameroon in 2018
Mr. Hategekimana’s trial detailed his role not only in carrying out the killings, but also in inciting others to commit them. After spending more than two decades in France, Mr. Hategekimana was finally arrested in Cameroon in 2018.
“It is common knowledge that many indicted persons are still at large, and some would have a ‘normal life’ – without fear of being brought to justice – in United Nations Member States”, underlined the Special Adviser.
She reiterated her call on the last fugitives of the 1994 genocide, in which moderate Hutus and others were also killed, to turn themselves in for justice.
“This verdict is a strong new signal to all who commit atrocities, incite them or glorify the perpetrators, that justice will prevail – no matter their attempts to hide, no matter how much time has passed.” , said Ms. Nderitu.
Justice done
Kate McElwee – Alice Nderitu, United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide.
Court cases and verdicts such as the one handed down against Mr. Hategekimana, as well as a recent verdict handed down in Germany against a former ISIS operative, are not only a prime example of justice served, but are essential to ensuring the dignity of victims of crimes and their families. “This can never ease the pain,” noted the Special Adviser. “But it helps to give victims and their loved ones back a position, visibility and facts about what happened.”
Former Rwandan policeman, Philippe Hategekimana, 66, naturalized French under the name of Philippe Manier, was found guilty last Wednesday of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment by the Paris Assize Court.
Involvement in massacres
The former chief warrant officer of the gendarmerie of Nyanza (southern Rwanda), who recognized the reality of the genocide but denied any involvement in its implementation, was prosecuted for participation in a criminal association for the preparation of crimes of genocide and other crimes against humanity.
He was accused of having participated in or encouraged the murder of dozens of Tutsis in the prefecture of Butare, including the bourgmestre of Ntyazo who resisted the execution of the genocide in his commune.
The prosecution also accused him of having participated, by giving orders, even by being directly involved on the ground, in three massacres: that of Nyabubare hill where 300 people were killed on April 23, 1994, that, four days later, from the hill of Nyamure where thousands of Tutsis had taken refuge, and that of the Institute of Agronomic Sciences of Rwanda, where tens of thousands of victims were counted. For this last crime, the court recognized only the complicity of Mr. Hategekimana but not his culpability as the author of this massacre.
Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) for UN Info.
Source : African Media Agency (AMA)