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 Chamber: 20 December 2012; MICT Appeal Judgment: 18 December 2014; Pending review of appeal judgment
Augustin Ngirabatware, the former Minister of Planning in the Interim Government, was indicted for his alleged role in killings and rapes of Tutsis in Nyamyumba Commune in Gisenyi Prefecture. The prosecution charged Ngirabatware with direct responsibility for conspiracy to commit genocide, incitement to commit genocide, extermination as a crime against humanity, and rape as a crime against humanity, and with direct and superior responsibility for genocide and complicity in genocide.
In 2012, an ICTR Trial Chamber convicted Ngirabatware of genocide, incitement to commit genocide, and rape as a crime against humanity after finding that Ngirabaware incited the killing of Tutsis at several roadblocks in Nyamyumba Commune, Gisenyi Prefecture, that he distributed weapons at two roadblocks Nyamyumba; and that he participated in a joint criminal enterprise that had the common purpose of destroying the Tutsi ethnic group and that committed the repeated rapes of Tutsi women.
In 2014, the IRMCT Appeals Chamber affirmed Ngirabaware’s convictions for incitement to commit genocide and aiding and abetting genocide for his role killings at roadblocks in Nyamyumba, but the Appeals Chamber held that the Trial Chambers erred in its finding concerning Ngirabaware’s participation in a joint criminal enterprise. Accordingly, the Appeals Chamber overturned Ngirabaware’s conviction for rape as a crime against humanity, and the Appeals Chamber reduced his sentence from 35 to 30 years’ imprisonment.
In June 2017, the IRMCT Appeals Chamber granted Ngirabatware’s request for review of the appeal judgment. That review is underway.