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: 22 June 2009; Appeal Judgment: 20 October 2010
Callixte Kalimanzira, the former Minister of the Interior in the Interim Government of Rwanda, stood trial for his role in the killing of thousands of Tutsis at Kabuye Hill in Butare Prefecture. The prosecution charged Kalimanzira with genocide, complicity in genocide, and incitement to commit genocide.
In 2009, an ICTR Trial Chamber convicted Kalimanzira of aiding and abetting genocide for encouraging Tutsis to gather at Kabuye Hill where he knew that they would be attacked, and for then providing armed reinforcements to attackers at Kabuye Hill. The Trial Chamber also convicted Kalimanzira of incitement to genocide for encouraging attackers at the Jaguar roadblock, the Kajyanama roadblock, the Nyabisagara football field, and the Gisagara marketplace. In 2010, the ICTR Appeals Chamber upheld Kalimanzira’s conviction for aiding and abetting genocide but overturned the conviction for incitement to genocide after finding several factual and legal errors in the Trial Chamber’s evaluation of the merits. The Appeals Chamber reduced the Trial Chamber’s 30-year sentence to 25 years’ imprisonment.