International court jails Rwanda ex-army chief over genocide

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has sentenced Rwandan former army-chief Augustin Bizimungu to 30 years in jail for his role in the 1994 genocide in which around 800,000 people were killed.

AFP/Tony Karumba

The court also convicted Augustin Ndindiliyimana, the former head of the paramilitary police, of genocide crimes, but ordered his release as he has already spent 11 years behind bars since his arrest.

The court ruled that while Bizimungu had complete control over the men he commanded, Nindiliyimana had only "limited control" over his men after the start of the massacres on 6 April 1994, and was opposed to the killing.

They are two of the most senior figures to be tried by the ICTR.

Ndindiliyimana was arrested in January 2000 in Belgium and Nzuwonemeye was picked up the following month in France. Sagahutu was detained in Denmark and Bizimungu in Angola in 2002.

Two senior officers tried alongside the generals were also sentenced on Tuesday.

Major François-Xavier Nzuwonemeye, the former commander of the reconnaissance battalion, was jailed for 20 years and his subordinate, Captain Innocent Sagahutu, was also sentenced to 20 years.

The ICTR, based in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha, was established in late 1994 to try the perpetrators of Rwanda's genocide, during which an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed, over a 100-day period.

The tribunal tries only those thought to bear the greatest responsibility for the genocide.

Lower-ranking officials and citizens accused of taking part in the killing have been tried in Rwanda, either in the normal court system or at grassroots tribunals called gacaca.