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: 30 December 2011; Appeal Judgment: 16 December 2013
Grégoire Ndahimana, former Bourgmestre (mayor) of Kivumu Commune in Kibuye Prefecture, stood trial for his role in mass killings committed at Nyange Church in Kibuye Prefecture in April of 1994. The prosecution charged Ndahimana with direct and superior responsibility for genocide, complicity in genocide, and extermination as a crime against humanity, as well as direct responsibility for conspiracy to commit genocide.
In 2011, an ICTR Trial Chamber convicted Ndahimana of genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity for his actions as an approving spectator of events while acting as Mayor and for failing to punish communal police who engaged in widespread killings in Nyange under his watch. In 2013, the ICTR Appeals Chamber affirmed Ndahimana’s convictions for genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity, but found that the Trial Chamber erred in assessing Ndahimana’s liability. The Appeals Chamber concluded that Ndahimana’s engagement in the killings in Nyange was that of a participant in a joint criminal enterprise, rather than an aider and abettor. Due to the Appeals Chamber’s finding of increased liability, the Appeals Chamber raised Ndahimana’s sentence from 15 years’ to 25 years’ imprisonment.