Posted on 09/19/2006 2:18:04 AM PDT by rightgrafix
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (Reuters) -- A U.N. court trying the masterminds of the 1994 Rwandan genocide on Monday began to hear a case against a former sports ministry official whose popular songs were said to have encouraged the killings. Simon Bikindi, a musician and former official in Rwanda's Ministry of Youth and Sports, was arrested in the Netherlands in 2001. He faces six counts of genocide to which he has pleaded not guilty. "He was the singer whose popular songs were supposed to have encouraged people to commit genocide," Timothy Gallimore, spokesman for Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), told Reuters. "We haven't had anyone in his category before. You have to also understand that he is part of the association with the media. The issue of using the media for incitement is related to his case," Gallimore said. In its indictment, ICTR said that Bikindi also agreed or collaborated with, among others, former President Juvenal Habyarimana, to give military training to Hutu Interahamwe militia and to spread anti-Tutsi propaganda. He is accused of helping recruit Interahamwe militias in late 1993 and early 1994 and for collaborating with among others, Habyarimana, to launch privately owned Radio Mille Collines, which was used to spread anti-Tutsi messages, and often played Bikindi's music. ICTR added that Bikindi would compose and record music, and have Habyarimana vet it to see if it fit the government's policies before it was released. The ICTR is under pressure to finish its cases by 2008. It has indicted more than 80 people for genocide-related crimes since starting work in 1994, convicted 26 and acquitted four people. Gallimore said the tribunal will be delivering another judgement on Wednesday against Andre Rwamakuba, a former education minister.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Trying a musician who sang songs that incited people to Genocide. It seems absurd when people like Mugabe have killed so many thousands and they do nothing.
Be happy, kill somebody...
It's a start, at least. What happened in Rwanda was genocide, and if this guy was promoting that, he should be tried as much as a famous German in the 1930's inciting anger toward Jews.
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