UN tribunal convicts media leaders of genocide

The UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) convicted on Wednesday three Rwandan media personalities of genocide and sentenced two of them to life imprisonment and one to 35 years in prison

In a statement, the tribunal reported that a bench of three judges had sentenced Ferdinand Nahimana, a founder and ideologist of the Radio Télévision des Mille Collines (RTLM) and Hassan Ngeze, editor in chief of Kangura newspaper, to life in prison for their involvement in the 1994 genocide that claimed at least 800,000 lives.

The third defendant, Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, a board member of the Comité d'initiative of the RTLM and founding member of the Coalition for the Defence of Republic (CDR) political party, was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

They were found guilty of genocide, incitement to genocide, conspiracy and crimes against humanity - extermination and persecution.

The judgement, in the trial that had been known as the Media Case, was delivered by Judges Navanethem Pillay (presiding), Erik Møse and Asoka de Zoysa Gunawardana.

The tribunal reported that the case examined the role of the RTLM radio station and Kangura newspaper in the genocide in Rwanda.

"It also reviewed the role of the CDR, a party found by the Chamber to have spearheaded the Hutu Power movement, which created a political framework for the genocide," the tribunal reported.

In their ruling, the judges observed that in a radio interview broadcast at the height of the genocide on 25 April 1994, Nahimana, talked of the "war of media, words, newspapers and radio stations", which he described as a complement to bullets.

"You were fully aware of the power of words, and you used the radio, the medium of communication with the widest public reach to disseminate hatred and violence," Pillay told Nahimana when she read the court's ruling.

She added, "Without a firearm, machete or any physical weapon, you caused the death of thousands of innocent civilians."

Barayagwiza, who was tried in absentia after he boycotted the trial, was convicted for his role in RTLM, as well as for individual acts of genocide and extermination and his leadership role in the CDR.

Ngeze, also a founding member of CDR, was convicted for his activities in "ordering, instigating and aiding and abetting acts of genocide", as well as for his writings in Kangura.

The tribunal reported that the judges found that Tutsi women, in particular, were targeted for persecution through the portrayal of the Tutsi woman as a "femme fatale", and the message that Tutsi women were "seductive agents of the enemy".

"The power of the media to create and destroy fundamental human values comes with great responsibility," Pillay said. "Those who control such media are accountable for its consequences".

The trial opened on 23 October 2000 and ended on 22 August 2003 after 230 trial days.