Rwanda ex-president Pasteur Bizimungu jailed for 15 years loses appeal

An ethnic Hutu, Pasteur Bizimungu became president when the ruling Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) took power after the genocide in which extremists from the Hutu majority butchered 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.

Current President Paul Kagame, whose Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Army ended the hundred days of slaughter, was then vice-president.

Cooperation between Bizimungu, a French-speaking Hutu, and Kagame, an English-speaking Tutsi, was intended to symbolise post-genocide reconciliation. But their relationship soured, and in March 2000, Bizimungu resigned after falling out with top RPF members over the make-up of a new cabinet.

Throughout his presidency, Bizimungu remained in the shadow of Kagame, his more powerful vice-president, who was also minister of defence at the time.

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« Mbwire gito canje, gito c'uwundi cumvireho» ("Conseils à mon sot, de sorte que le sot d'autrui en profite", Paul MIREREKANO, janvier 1961).

"The greatest thing in this world," said U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., "is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving."

"It is not truth that makes man great; but man that makes truth great." (Confucius)

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After his resignation, Bizimungu became a vocal government criticFormer Rwandan President Pasteur Bizimungu has lost his appeal against a 15-year jail term imposed in 2004.

During the appeal, the country's first post-genocide president had told the Supreme Court his arrest and conviction were "politically motivated".

He was arrested in 2002 after trying to form a political party and convicted for embezzling state funds, inciting violence and criminal association.

A BBC correspondent in Kigali said the courtroom was packed for the ruling.

The Supreme Court also rejected the appeal of former Transport Minister Charles Ntakirutinka, but acquitted six other co-accused colleagues.

'Not surprised'

The BBC's Geoffrey Mutagoma says Mr Bizimungu was in court wearing a black suit.

The courtroom was so full it was difficult to see his reaction as the court upheld the convictions, our reporter says.

Mr Ntakirutinka's wife said afterwards she was not surprised by the decision.

After his arrest in 2002, the authorities accused the former president of stirring up divisions between Tutsis and the majority Hutus.

During the appeal he said it was unfair for him to be convicted on charges different to those for which he was arrested.

Mr Bizimungu was one of only a handful of Hutus to join the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), the rebel movement formed among Tutsi exiles in Uganda.

The RPF took control of Rwanda in July 1994, putting an end to the genocide organised by extremist Hutu leaders that left about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead.

But after his resignation in 2000, Mr Bizimungu became a vocal critic of the RPF-led government.

While the RPF says it has introduced stability and multiparty democracy, its critics claim it has centralised power within a Tutsi elite and crushed potential opponents - by accusing them of promoting ethnic divisions.

Rwanda ex-president jailed for 15 years loses appeal

18 Feb 2006 07:41:07 GMT
Source: Reuters

KIGALI, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Rwanda's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the country's first post-genocide president to quash a 15-year jail term against him for offences including inciting ethnic violence.

In a packed courtroom on Friday, it upheld a lower court's verdict against former President Pasteur Bizimungu, who was accused of committing the crimes after he resigned in 2000.

The lower court imprisoned him in mid-2004 for creating a militia, embezzling state funds and inciting ethnic violence in the central African country still scarred by the 1994 genocide.

Bizimungu was appealing against his conviction on the three charges, which he has denied and said are politically motivated, and wanted the Supreme Court to set him free.

But Chief Justice Aloysia Cyanzayire said Bizimungu and one of his co-accused were guilty of "treason, spreading malicious rumours aimed at inciting the public against the government and creation of a criminal gang."

She said that Bizimungu was also separately found guilty of embezzlement of public funds.

Former Transport Minister Charles Ntakirutinka, one of his co-accused, also failed to have the court overturn a ten-year jail term against him.

However, the court acquitted six others, who were being tried jointly with Bizimungu and Ntakirutinka, and ordered their immediate release.

An ethnic Hutu, Bizimungu became president when the ruling Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) took power after the genocide in which extremists from the Hutu majority butchered 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.

Current President Paul Kagame, whose Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Army ended the hundred days of slaughter, was then vice-president.

Cooperation between Bizimungu, a French-speaking Hutu, and Kagame, an English-speaking Tutsi, was intended to symbolise post-genocide reconciliation. But their relationship soured, and in March 2000, Bizimungu resigned after falling out with top RPF members over the make-up of a new cabinet.

Throughout his presidency, Bizimungu remained in the shadow of Kagame, his more powerful vice-president, who was also minister of defence at the time.

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--
« Mbwire gito canje, gito c'uwundi cumvireho» ("Conseils à mon sot, de sorte que le sot d'autrui en profite", Paul MIREREKANO, janvier 1961).

"The greatest thing in this world," said U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., "is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving."

"It is not truth that makes man great; but man that makes truth great." (Confucius)