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.
Transferred to National Courts: 28 June 2012
Still a fugitive as of August 2018, Pheneas Munyarugarama, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Rwanda Armed Forces and the highest-ranking military officer at Gako military camp in Kigali, was indicted for his alleged role in the planning and execution of several attacks on Tutsis, including attacks at Kanzenze Communal Office, Nyamata Sector, Ntarama Catholic Church, Cyugaro Primary School, and the Ntarama Swamps. The prosecution charged Munyarugarama with direct and superior responsibility for genocide, complicity in genocide, incitement to genocide, and crimes against humanity for acts of extermination, murder, persecution, and rape.
Munyarugarama remained at large as the ICTR was ending its work, and in 2012, the ICTR granted the prosecution’s request to refer the case to the national courts in Rwanda, where he would face trial if captured.