Rwandan court upholds life jail term for 60-year old for genocide
Rwanda’s Court of Appeal on Friday upheld the life sentence for a 60-year old former local leader who was extradited from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Ladislas Ntaganzwa, a former mayor of commune Nyakizu in southern Rwanda was initially handed life jail term by Rwanda’s High Court Chamber for International and Cross-border Crimes in 2020 after he was found guilty of crimes committed during the 1994 genocide against Tutsi ethnic group.
The court condemned Ntaganzwa “to life sentence for genocide and perpetrating crimes against humanity including murder and rape.”
Prosecution said Ntaganzwa, who was extradited to Rwanda in 2016 led attacks against members of the Tutsi ethnic group who had sought refuge at Cyahinda Catholic Parish in his former commune in 1994.
He appealed against the initial court ruling arguing that prosecution witnesses had given contradicting evidence against him.
But Friday’s ruling said the appeal “had no basis.”
The appeal “was lacking in substance and therefore the Court of Appeal upholds the life sentence for the defendant in its entirety as handed down by the High Court Chamber for International and Cross-border Crimes,” the judges ruled.
He was indicted by the defunct International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
Ntaganzwa participated in a plan to exterminate the Tutsi population in his commune from late 1990 until July 1994, according to the indictment.
More than one million people, mainly ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
