This case summary is part of a collection of summaries describing the cases before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). See the Online Resource Hub pages on the ICTR and International Criminal Law, and table of ICTR case summaries for additional information.
Trial Judgment: 31 March 2011; Appeal Judgment: 9 October 2012
Jean-Baptiste Gatete, former Mayor of Murambi Commune in Byumba Prefecture and Director in the Rwandan Ministry of Women and Family Affairs, stood trial for his role in attacks on Tutsi civilians in Rwankuba Sector, in Kiziguro Parish, and in Mukarange Parish. The prosecution charged Gatete with direct responsibility for genocide, complicity in genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, and crimes against humanity for acts of murder, extermination, and rape.
In 2010, and ICTR Trial Chamber convicted Gatete of genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity after the Trial Chamber found that Gatete ordered members of the Interahamwe militia, along with soldiers, police, and civilians, to kill Tutsi civilians in Rwankuba Sector; that Gatete ordered the Interahamwe militia and a civilian militia to conduct a coordinated attack against Tutsi refugees in Kiziguro Parish; and that Gatete participated and provided material support in an attack against Tutsis in Mukarange Parish.
In 2012, the ICTR Appeals Chamber affirmed Gatete’s convictions for genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity, granted the prosecution’s appeal of the failure to convict Gatete of conspiracy to commit genocide, and entered a conviction against Gatete for conspiracy to commit genocide. Despite the additional conviction, the Appeals Chamber reduced the Trial Chamber’s sentence of life imprisonment to 40 years’ imprisonment due to a violation of Gatete’s right to be tried without undue delay.