2 Sentenced to Die in 1st Rwanda Genocide Trial

A Rwandan court sentenced two Hutu men to death Friday in the country’s first efforts to punish those responsible for its 1994 genocide of about 800,000 people.

Deo Bizimana, a former hospital aide, and Egide Gatanaza, a former local administrator, were the first to be convicted for the genocide. They were among 1,946 Rwandans, mostly Hutus, accused of planning the slaughter of minority Tutsis.

More than 85,000 others are crammed into Rwandan prisons awaiting trial for lesser genocide-related crimes that took place from April to June 1994.

Rwanda’s Tutsi-led government says genocide trials are crucial to ending a cycle of impunity that has left crimes unpunished for generations.

Bizimana and Gatanaza have 15 days to appeal their death sentences, according to a ruling from the court in Kibungo, about 40 miles southeast of the capital, Kigali.

Both men pleaded innocent to all 11 charges, including organizing massacres and raping and pillaging their Tutsi neighbors.

The two men, dressed in pink prison uniforms, showed no emotion when the three-judge panel issued the verdict. They were convicted Dec. 27 on charges including planning genocide, genocide, crimes against humanity and rape.

The courtroom, nearly full with 250 onlookers, remained silent at the sentencing.

During the four-hour trial last week, the crowd booed the defendants and cheered prosecutors.

Bizimana and Gatanaza will either be hanged or executed by firing squad.

Earlier this week, trials opened in Kigali and the northern town of Byumba. More trials are scheduled for next week.

Rwandan officials have said that once the organizers of the genocide are convicted and executed, it will be easier to show leniency for those who were following orders.

Such leniency will help promote reconciliation, they say.

At the trial in Kibungo, Tutsi survivors of the genocide testified about the brutality and precision of the carefully planned killings.

“Bizimana broke into my house and killed my family, and he thought he had killed me,” said one witness, Eugene Ndongozi, who bore machete scars on his head.

“I used to be a rich man, but now I have nothing,” Ndongozi said.

Bizimana responded: “If he really saw me and I saw him, then I would have killed him, so it is not true.”

Human rights observers have voiced concern about some procedures during the trial. For example, the men defended themselves, unable to find willing lawyers.

Under Rwandan law, a defendant can be tried without a defense lawyer.

The Rwandan trials began before those promised by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which operates under a U.N. mandate to prosecute those responsible for organizing the genocide.