Rwandan massacre mastermind convicted of genocide

AP on Yahoo ^ | 12/18/08 | Sukhdev Chhatbar and Donna Bryson - ap

[NormsRevenge]

ARUSHA, Tanzania – A former Rwandan army colonel was convicted Thursday of genocide and crimes against humanity for masterminding the killings of more than half a million people in a 100-day slaughter in 1994. Survivors in Rwanda welcomed the watershed moment in a long search for justice.

The U.N. courtroom in Tanzania was packed for the culmination of the trial of Theoneste Bagosora, the highest-ranking Rwandan official to be convicted in the genocide. Onlookers were silent as the 67-year-old was sentenced to life in prison.

[NormsRevenge]

His cell should be lined with the skulls and bones of some of those who perished.

.. or maybe some posters of those in power who did nothing while it happened

[NormsRevenge]

Video frame grab shows former Rwanda Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva listening to the verdict at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha December 18, 2008. The Tanzania-based ICTR said on Thursday Rwanda genocide mastermind Colonel Theoneste Bagosora, 67, was in charge of soldiers and the Interahamwe Hutu militia who butchered 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 100 days in 1994, and sentenced him to life in prison, along with fellow former officers Nsengiyumva and Aloys Ntabakuze. REUTERS/ICTR via Reuters TV

[NormsRevenge]

Picture taken February 2004 shows genocide survivor and genocide memorial site guardian Theogene Ruzindana stands next to piles of skulls in the church of Kibeho, Rwanda, belonging victims of during the 1994 Rwandan genocide. (AFP/File/Gianluigi Guercia)

[SJackson]

Good riddance, hope he enjoys jail.

[NormsRevenge]

I'm sure he'll do just fine in custody for the rest of his life.

The UN will make sure of that.

Former Rwandan army colonel Theoneste Bagosora (R) chats with an unidentified U.N. security official before sittings before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha December 18, 2008. A U.N. court sentenced a former army colonel accused of masterminding Rwanda's genocide in 1994 to life in prison on Thursday. ICTR had accused Bagosora, 67, of being in charge of the troops and Interahamwe Hutu militia who butchered 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 100 days. REUTERS/International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda/Handout

[conservativeharleyguy]

MASTERMIND??? Give me a break.

Hey, AP. If he was captured, tried, and convicted, he's not very much of a “Mastermind” is he?

Thug, sure. Reprehensible Scumbag, deserving of excruciatingly slow death, absolutely. But Mastermind? No way.

Perhaps Sukhdev Chhatbar and Donna Bryson have watched too many Austin Powers movies? Don't elevate him in any way.

[bunches]

Rent the movie “Hotel Rwanda” with Don Cheadle.

It depicts the horrors of the massacre from the eyes of the assistant manager of the Hotel De Milles Colline in Kigali, Mr. Paul Rusesabagina. He saved over 1,000 people by sheltering them in the hotel during the genocide. It is such an important and emotional movie. It will break your heart for many reasons.

Paul helped all through the production of the movie and he and the director and writer went to some of the memorial sites where the massacres took place. I think I have seen the movie 6 or 7 times.

[happinesswithoutpeace]

whatya thinking some Albright there?

[happinesswithoutpeace]

Also the doc “Ghosts of Rwanda” is a must see.

[Carry_Okie]

His cell should be lined with the skulls and bones of some of those who perished.

Thanks, but I'd much rather he was convicted by ANYTHING other than a UN court. IMHO, Kofi Annan belongs on the gallows with him.

[Vigilanteman]

It is an excellent movie and shows what one determined righteous man can do.

[netmilsmom]

Rent “Shooting Dogs”.

The UN troops were told to shoot the dogs eating the bodies of the victims. Yet they couldn’t shoot those killing them. That’s where the title comes from.

It is a very hard movie to watch as well.

[netmilsmom]

Like Clinton?

April - State Department spokeswoman Christine Shelley is asked whether what is happening in Rwanda is a genocide. She responds,

“...the use of the term ‘genocide’ has a very precise legal meaning, although it’s not strictly a legal determination. There are other factors in there as well.”

However, a secret intelligence report by the State Department issued as early as the end of April calls the killings a genocide.

[Coleus]

half a million people in a 100-day slaughter in 1994>>>

where was the first black president, slick willie clinton, during all of this? And all those smelly peace activists? where was the outrage and protest from the socialist soros groups... where was pax christi?

[Coleus]

Planner of Rwandan massacres convicted of genocide

Thursday, December 18th 2008

ARUSHA, Tanzania (AP) — The main organizer behind the 1994 slaughter of more than 500,000 people in Rwanda was convicted of genocide Thursday and sentenced to life in prison, the most significant verdict of a special U.N. tribunal set up to bring the killers to justice.  Theoneste Bagosora was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity, Judge Erik Moses said.

The court found that Bagosora used his position as the former director of Rwanda's Ministry of Defense to direct Hutu soldiers to kill Tutsis and moderate Hutus.  Bagosora also was found responsible for the deaths of former Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and 10 Belgian peacekeepers.

More than 500,000 minority Tutsis and political moderates from the Hutu majority were killed in the 100-day slaughter organized by the extremist Hutu government then in power. Government troops, Hutu militia and ordinary villagers spurred on by hate messages broadcast over the radio went from village to village, butchering men, women and children.

The Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was set up by the U.N. in 1997 to try those responsible for the killings.   Also Thursday, former military commanders Anatole Nsegiyumva and Alloys Ntabakuze were found guilty of genocide and sentenced to life in prison. The former chief of military operations, Brigadier Gratien Kabiligi, was cleared of all charges and released.

Earlier in the day, Protais Zigiranyirazo was convicted of organizing a massacre in which hundreds of Tutsis died, and was sentenced to 20 years. He has already served seven.  The massacres took place in 1994 after the Rwandan president's plane was mysteriously shot down over Kigali as he returned home from peace talks with Tutsi-led rebels. Hours after the crash, the Interahamwe set up roadblocks across Kigali and the next day began killing Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The slaughter eventually ended after Tutsi rebels invaded from neighboring Uganda and drove out the genocidal forces.