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During the Rwandan genocide, Siméon Nchamihigo was the Deputy Prosecutor in Cyangugu prefecture.

Nchamihigo was charged with genocide (Count 1), murder, extermination and other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity (Counts 2, 3, 4). On 24 September 2008, Trial Chamber III of the ICTR found that on 7 April 1994, the Accused told Interahamwe to search for and kill Tutsi with the intention to destroy the Tutsi ethnic group and other civilians who were RPF accomplices, as part of a widespread attack against civilians in Cyangugu. The Chamber also concluded that he had participated in various attacks on refugee locations, that he had attended the prefecture Security Council meetings on 11 and 14 April 1994, and that certain of the massacres had been planned during these meetings. Based on the findings, the Trial Chamber convicted Nchamihigo on all counts and sentenced him to life imprisonment. 

In August 1998, the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by terrorists loyal to Osama bin Laden. In retaliation, President Clinton ordered a missile strike on the El-Shaifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum, Sudan, arguing that it was a base for terrorism. Later, it was proven that the plan had no ties to terrorists. Therefore, El-Shifa Pharmaceutical Industries brought complaints against the United States in the US Court of Federal Claims.

In November 2005, the District Court found that El-Shifa Pharmaceutical Industries raised a non-justiciable political question (which foresees that courts have no authority to hear or adjudge on matters that raise political, rather than legal, questions) in asking the Court to adjudge on the President’s powers to designate as enemy property the private property of the chemical plant in Sudan.

On 27 March 2009, the Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the District Court, holding that the case raised a political question, and therefore barring the court from hearing the matter.

El-Shifa Pharmaceutical Industries filed a petition to the Court of Appeals asking for the case to be re-heard by the court sitting en banc (where the case is heard before all judges of the court). On 3 August 2009, the Court of Appeals granted their petition, ordering that the case be re-heard by the court sitting en banc and vacating the earlier judgment of 27 March 2009.

Aloys Ntabakuze is an ex-Commander of the Rwandan Para-Commando Battalion. On 18 December 2008 the Tribunal found him guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity, namely murder, extermination, persecution and other inhumane acts, and serious violations of Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and of Additional Protocol II (violence to life). He appealed the judgment on 37 grounds. The Appeals Chamber agreed with the Trial Chamber’s ruling that Ntabakuze was guilty as a superior for the participation of members of the Para-Commando Battalion in the killings committed at Nyanza hill on 11 April 1994 and at IAMSEA around 15 April 1994. However, the Chamber reversed Ntabazuke’s convictions for stopping the refugees killed at Nyanza hill from seeking sanctuary and for the killings in Kabeza on 7 and 8 April 1994, as well as for murder as a crime against humanity. The Appeals Chamber also set aside the Trial Chamber’s finding of Ntabakuze’s responsibility for the crimes committed by militiamen. Thus, his sentence to life imprisonment was reversed and he was sentenced to 35 years of imprisonment instead.

Post-apartheid South Africa continues to be faced with the difficult question on how to deal with past human rights violations. From 1999 until 2005, the South Africa Prosecution Authority attempted to have Wouter Basson convicted. Basson was head of the secret chemical and biological warfare project during the apartheid era. He was charged with a variety of crimes, including murder, fraud and dealing drugs. After several charges were dismissed and Basson was acquitted of all other charges, the prosecutor sought permission to appeal. He mainly held that the judge should have stepped back from this case, as the prosecution had accused him of being biased.

However, the Supreme Court of Appeal held that only the defendant could appeal against factual questions and the Court considered the question of bias to be a factual question. Other reasons given by the prosecutor for appeal were dismissed as well. For example, the Court held that the prosecutor should have appealed against the dismissal of several charges at an earlier stage. 

Callixte Kalimanzira was the Minister of Interior during the genocide in Rwanda.

In its judgment of 22 June 2009, the Trial Chamber of the ICTR noted that, on 23 April 1994, Kalimanzira went to Kabuye hill in Butare prefecture with soldiers and policemen, where thousands of Tutsi refugees were attacked and killed. The Accused’s role in luring Tutsis to Kabuye hill and his subsequent assistance in providing armed reinforcement substantially contributed to the overall attack. Therefore, the Chamber found the Accused guilty of aiding and abetting genocide at Kabuye hill. The Chamber further found him guilty of direct and public incitement to commit genocide on several occasions, including at the Jaguar roadblock, the Kajyanama roadblock, and the Nyabisagara football field on different dates in April 1994, and at the Gisagara marketplace at the end of May 1994.

The Trial Chamber sentenced the Accused to 30 years imprisonment.