UN sentences Rwandan for role in genocide

A former Rwandan administrator was sentenced to 25 years in prison by a UN war crimes court today for his role in the country's 1994 genocide. Dominique Ntawukulilyayo, 68, was the deputy administrator of Rwanda's southern Gisagara district during the genocide and was convicted of organising the killings of Tutsis. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) prosecutors accused Ntawukulilyayo, who was arrested in France, of transporting soldiers to where Tutsis had taken refuge and left the area after ordering the troops to open fire, killing and wounding thousands.

One of the judges raised objections although the verdict was arrived at by a majority. "This ruling which was not reached unanimously opens the possibility that Dominique Ntawukulilyayo has high chances of getting an acquittal on appeal," his lawyer Maroufa Diabira said. Ntawukulilyayo was arrested in December 2007 in the southern French city of Carcassonne. The ICTR, based in Tanzania's northern town of Arusha is tasked with trying the main perpetrators of the 1994 massacre which left some 800,000 people, mainly Tutsis, dead in a space of three months.

* AFP