World

Rwandan 'Kingpin' Bagosora Sentenced to Life in Prison

by Amitjha | December 18, 2008 at 12:53 am

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A U.N. court trying the masterminds of Rwanda's 1994 genocide will pass judgment on Thursday on a former army colonel accused of being an architect of the 100-day slaughter.

The Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has accused Theoneste Bagosora, 67, of being in charge of the troops and Interahamwe Hutu militia who butchered some 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

In its indictment, the ICTR said that before the killings, Bagosora stormed out of peace talks in Tanzania saying he was returning to Rwanda to "prepare the apocalypse".

Prosecutors said Bagosora, formerly a cabinet director in the Defence Ministry, assumed control of military and political affairs in Rwanda when President Juvenal Habyarimana's plane was shot down.

Bagosora faces 11 charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He has pleaded not guilty.

The ICTR will also deliver judgment on Thursday in the case against businessman and Habyarimana's brother-in-law Protais Zigiranyirazo, known as "Monsieur Z".

Theoneste Bagosora is charged with leading a committee of Hutu extremists that plotted the massacre of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Mr Bagosora, a colonel who was cabinet director in Rwanda's defence ministry at the time, pleaded not guilty.

Rwanda's genocide left more than 800,000 people dead within the space of just 100 days.

According to the indictment at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), based in Tanzania, Mr Bagosora and three former senior military officers all conspired to "work out a plan with intent to exterminate the civilian Tutsi population and eliminate members of the opposition".

UPDATE: Former senior defence official Theoneste Bagosora has been convicted of instigating Rwanda's 1994 genocide and sentenced to life in prison.

Bagosora and two co-defendants were found by a UN tribunal to have led a committee that plotted the massacre of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus..