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: 12 June 2006
Joseph Serugendo, the former Technical Chief of Radio Rwanda and member of the governing board of Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), was indicted for allegedly planning to establish, fund, and operate the RTLM as a radio station that disseminated an anti-Tutsi message intended to promote racial hatred and ultimately destroy the Tutsi ethnic group. The prosecution charged Serugendo with direct and superior responsibility for genocide, complicity in genocide, incitement to commit genocide, persecution as a crime against humanity, and with direct responsibility for conspiracy to commit genocide.
In 2006, an ICTR Trial Chamber affirmed Serugendo’s guilty plea to incitement to commit genocide and persecution as a crime against humanity, and granted the prosecution’s request to drop the remaining charges against Serugendo. The Trial Chamber sentenced Serugendo to six years’ imprisonment.