BELGIUM: A Belgian court sentenced a former Rwandan army major to 20 years in prison for the murder of 10 Belgian peacekeepers and an undetermined number of Rwandan civilians

A Belgian court sentenced a former Rwandan army major to 20 years in prison on Thursday (July 5) for the murder of 10 Belgian peacekeepers and an undetermined number of Rwandan civilians at the start of the 1994 genocide. Bernard Ntuyahaga was earlier acquitted on two other charges of involvement in the murder of then Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and killing civilians in the Butare district. The public prosecutor had asked for a life sentence for the accused's role in the genocide, in which some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered. But the jury decided on a more lenient penalty, which presiding judge Karine Gerard said left the door open for reconciliation among Rwandans. ''The sentence to follow is proportional to the exceptional gravity of the acts he took part in and the role he played, and is taking into account the fact he is only one link of an important chain....'' Karin Gerard, the presiding judge, said. 'The court, after deliberations with the jury, according to article 364 of the criminal law, condemns Bernard Ntuyahaga of the facts he was declared guilty of by the jury and sentenced to 20 years in prison,'' she told Ntuyahaga,who remained silent. The Belgian U.N. soldiers were killed a day after the Rwandan president's plane was shot down on April 6, 1994, triggering the genocide by Hutu-led government forces and ethnic militias. Prosecutors said Ntuyahaga took the peacekeepers from the residence of the prime minister, whom they were trying to protect, and handed them over to fellow soldiers at a military camp in the capital, Kigali, where they were beaten to death, shot or slain with machetes. The defence said Ntuyahaga was a political scapegoat, who had only been passing the prime minister's residence by chance and had given the Belgians a ride at their request. In a last brief statement before the jury retired to consider the sentence, his lawyer called the trial unfair and told the jury to beware of the prosecution's "hate speech". Defence attorney Luc De Temmerman said Ntuyahaga would appeal against the verdict on procedural grounds as Belgian law does not allow appeals on substance at this stage. ''It seems to me reasonable, I would say, in a spirit of reconciliation too, as the presiding judge underlined. I feared at some point that he would only get fifteen years, which would have been too little I think, and I believe the sentence works within reconciliation and the Arusha agreements,'' Jean-Paul Chapel, a lawyer representing civil plaintiffs, described. The families of the Belgian peacekeepers and Rwandans attending the trial as civil plaintiff welcomed the Belgian court's guilty verdict but generally found the sentence too light. ''I would say it's important because the victims are being recognised, even if it's not the number of years we hoped for, and it's also a clear and strong message that such crimes against humanity, genocide crimes, will never stay unpunished and there will be no country offering asylum for people who committed such acts,'' Christine Dupont, the widow of one of the ten Belgian peacekeepers killed in Rwanda, said. ''I am disappointed, I am disappointed but at the same time, it was necessary because the families of the blue helmets at least learnt something, their children could rebuild themselves.'' said Yolande Mukagasana, who wrote three books about the genocide. Ntuyangaha has been in jail in Belgium since 2004. The killing of the peacekeepers triggered the pullout of U.N. forces, opening the way for the genocide to spread. Belgium has been seeking justice for its murdered soldiers for 13 years. Judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda dropped genocide and war crimes charges against Ntuyahaga in 1999. After lengthy attempts to extradite him, the former officer flew to Belgium voluntarily in 2004 but the trial only began in April this year. It is not the first time Rwandans have stood trial in Belgium over the genocide. Two Catholic nuns, a university professor and a businessman were sentenced in 2001 to between 12 and 20 years' jail for aiding the mass murders.

ITN Source | July 6, 2007

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