RWANDA: Appeal against ex-minister's acquittal begins

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

ARUSHA, TANZANIA, 6 Feb 2006 (IRIN) - An appeal against the acquittal of a former Rwandan minister by a lower court of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) began on Monday before its Appeals Chamber.

The prosecution is seeking to overturn the decision to acquit former Transport Minister Andre Ntagerura and Emmanuel Bagambiki, a former governor of Rwanda's Cyangugu Province, who had been accused of massacres and violations of the Geneva conventions.

On 25 February 2004, ICTR judges acquitted both men on grounds that the prosecution had "failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt" that they actively participated in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

The lower court had ruled that there was no credible evidence that Ntagerura expressed public support for the killings. The court also ruled that Bagambiki could not be held responsible for the acts of soldiers or other subordinates who killed Tutsis in the commune of Kagano. This, the court said, was because the prosecutor failed to establish the existence of a superior-subordinate relationship between him and the killers.

The prosecution claimed the acquittal was "erroneous" and has asked the Appeals Chamber to order a retrial. However, the court found that the third accused in the joint trial, Samuel Imanishimwe, who was commander of Karambo military camp in Cyangugu, ordered soldiers to arrest, detain, mistreat and execute some civilians.

It found Imanishimwe criminally responsible for extermination and for failing to punish or prevent his subordinates from participating in a massacre at a football field in Gashirabowba on 12 April 1994. He was imprisoned for 27 years.

According to the Rwandan government, some 937,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed during the genocide in April-June 1994.

The appeal hearing continues before the ICTR, established by the UN Security Council in late 1994 to bring to trial the alleged perpetrators of the genocide.

[ENDS]