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: 17 November 2009
Michel Bagaragaza, the former Director of the Rwandan tea industry, was indicted for allegedly contributing to the killings of over 1,000 Tutsis who sought refuge at Kesho Hill and at Nyundo Cathedral. The prosecution charged Bagaragaza with direct and superior responsibility for conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, complicity in genocide, and violence to life as a war crime.
In 2009, an ICTR Trial Chamber affirmed Bagaragaza’s guilty plea with respect to direct responsibility for complicity in genocide in exchange for the prosecution’s dropping of the remaining charges. The Trial Chamber sentenced Bagaragaza to eight years’ imprisonment.