Four convicted of war crimes in Brussels

After eight weeks of debates and 12 hours of deliberation, the jury of the Brussels ‘Cour d’Assises’ [Crown Court] in Belgium declared four Rwandans guilty or partially guilty of war crimes committed during the 1994 genocide. The announcement came at 0230 (local time) on Friday morning. The sentences will be pronounced on Friday afternoon. The four - Vincent Ntezimana, 39, a former professor at Butare university; Alphonse Higaniro, 52, the former director of a match factory; and two nuns Consolata Mukangango, 42, and Julienne Mukabutera, 36, known as sisters Gertrude and Maria Kisito - face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The defendants originate from Butare prefecture in southern Rwanda and were accused of having “voluntarily, with the intention of premeditated killing” committed one or several homicides against specific people as well as against “an indeterminate number of people whose identity is not known to this day” in the Butare region. They all pleaded not guilty and were standing trial freely. The two male defendants have been in preventive detention in Belgium for over a year.

All four have been living in Belgium since the 1994 genocide in which at least 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered. [For full report, see IRIN item of 8 June headlined “RWANDA: Butare Four found guilty of war crimes by Brussels court]
Later on Friday, the four accused appeared back in court where they were given the right to speak, sources at the trial told IRIN. The two men said they accepted the verdict along with any sentence they would be given, while Sister Gertrude simply stated she had nothing to add. Sister Kisito told the court that “to say I am guilty would be a lie”. The prosecution asked for the maximum life sentence for all four defendants, stating that the four held positions in society that they had “abused”. Sentencing is still awaited.