Posted on 04/28/2005 7:00:29 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
ARUSHA, Tanzania (AP) - A U.N. tribunal sentenced a former local government official in western Rwanda to prison for the rest of his life for shooting to death and raping mostly Tutsi victims during the 1994 genocide.
Judge Khalida Rashid Khan said the tribunal found beyond any reasonable doubt that Mika Muhimana, who was a councilor in the province of Kibuye, shot mostly Tutsi victims, raped several Tutsi women and encouraged other men to rape in the town of Gishyita.
The sentence of imprisonment for the rest of one's life is the highest penalty under the rules of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda because there is no chance of a pardon. If the tribunal sentences someone to life, they have the possibility of a pardon.
The crime "ranks among the gravest and deserves a heavy sentence," Khan said. "Instead of using his influential position to promote peace and reconciliation, he actively participated in the atrocities," she said, as 44-year-old Muhimana listened attentively.
The 1994 slaughter was orchestrated by a regime of extremists from Rwanda's Hutu majority. More than 500,000 people, most of them minority Tutsis, were killed in the genocide.
Muhimana's lawyers have not said whether they will appeal the ruling.
Charles Adeogun Philips, who was a prosecutor in the case, said he was satisfied with the sentence.
"Muhimana deserves the highest sentence for his cruel deeds," Philips said.
Alloys Mutabingwa, Rwanda's special representative to the tribunal based in the northern Tanzania town of Arusha, said he was happy with the verdict.
"This has been a straight case with clear evidence. This is the most notorious person. He was not acting as an ordinary (perpetrator of genocide) but a devil," said Mutabingwa.
Muhimana was arrested in Tanzania on Nov. 8, 1999, and transferred to the U.N. Detention Facility in Arusha the same day.
His conviction brings to 25 the number of suspects judged by the tribunal. Of those, three have been acquitted. Twenty-five others are currently on trial.
Where's the death penalty? Or how about visit perpetual torture on him for true justice for his victims?
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