The District Court of The Hague has sentenced a 66-year-old man from Ede to a lifelong prison sentence for his involvement in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The man took part in an attack on two communities predominantly inhabited by the Tutsi-population. Their houses were looted and set afire. Shortly after, he was in a stadium where thousands of Tutsi’s sought shelter. He prevented the Tutsi’s from escaping and threw a grenade in the crowd. As such, the man has been convicted of war crimes and the crime of genocide.
Sentence
Committing these kind of war crimes and committing genocide carries severe penalties: a temporary prison sentence of twenty years (at the time) or a lifelong prison sentence.
According to the Court, the conduct was committed with genocidal intent: a person’s group identity determined whether they survived. The victims included, in particular, defenseless civilians who were seeking a safe haven. The Court holds the defendant responsible for this. In 1994, the suspect was a man who was held in high regard and he must have been aware of his role and the influence he had as a local authority. Instead of staying on the sidelines, the defendant committed multiple severe crimes.
The Court therefore finds that a temporary prison sentence does not do justice to the exceptional severity of the crimes committed. The conduct of the defendant establishes a significant lack of respect for human dignity and for human life as such, that only a lifelong prison sentence does justice to the immense suffering that has been inflicted on the victims and the bereaved families.
Image: Court of Justice (The Hague), © Rechtbank, Den Haag
