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: 2 December 2008; Appeal Judgment: 18 March 2010
Simon Bikindi, a prominent Rwandan singer and composer, stood trial for speeches that he made at public gatherings encouraging hatred and violence against Tutsis, for collaborating with government and other political figures responsible for disseminating anti-Tutsi ideology, and for participating in the training and command of the Interahamwe militia that was responsible for killings perpetrated in Gisenyi prefecture. The prosecution charged Bikindi with direct and superior responsibility for genocide and murder as a crime against humanity, and the prosecution also charged Bikindi with direct responsibility for conspiracy to commit genocide, complicity in genocide, incitement to genocide, and persecution as a crime against humanity.
In 2008, an ICTR Trial Chamber convicted Bikindi of incitement to commit genocide for publically calling for the extermination of Tutsis before a crowd on the main road between Kimvumu and Kayove but acquitted the defendant on all remaining charges. In 2010 the ICTR Appeals Chamber dismissed both Bikindi and the prosecution’s grounds for appeal and affirmed Bikindi’s 15-year sentence.