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: 16 November 2007
Juvénal Rugambarara, the former Bourgmestre of Bicumbi Commune, was indicted for allegedly failing to take measures to investigate and address crimes allegedly committed by his subordinates against Tutsis within Bicumbi between April 7 and April 20, 1994. The prosecution charged Rugambarara with a single count of superior responsibility for extermination as a crime against humanity.
In 2007, an ICTR Trial Chamber accepted Rugambarara’s guilty plea to extermination as a crime against humanity for failing to take necessary and reasonable steps for the punishment of his subordinates for crimes they committed between April 7 and April 20, 1994. The Trial Chamber sentenced Rugambarara to 11 years’ imprisonment.