Search results

Following the death of Rwandan President Habyariamana on 6 April 1994, a nationwide campaign was launched against members of the Tutsi population who were subsequently targeted for elimination. Hundreds of thousands of Tutsis died over a period of several months.

The present case before the Court of First Instance for Gisenyi prefecture in Rwanda considers a series of murders committed by Jules Baritima with the aid of Léni Nyirashako against Tutsis seeking refuge in the home of the latter. The Tribunal found Baritima guilty of genocide and sentenced him to death. Nyirashako was found guilty of murder. Both Accused were ordered to pay damages to the families of the victims.

During Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor from 1975 until East Timorese independence in 2002, the Indonesian Armed Forces along with a number of militia groups promoted Indonesian autonomy through violent means.

The Accused was forced to join the Laksaur militia group in 1999 and, in the course of his membership, perpetrated a number of crimes against supporters of East Timorese independence. The Special Panels for Serious Crimes convicted and sentenced the Accused to 9 years’ imprisonment for the stabbing to death by machete of three victims, the beating of numerous villagers, and the enforced disappearance of another victim who was wounded, taken out to a forest and left there. At sentencing, the Court took into consideration the frailty and sickness of the Accused who was by now 55 years old, his expression of regret at the crimes, and his having pleaded guilty. It also took into consideration the brutality of the crimes and the Accused’s apparent lack of humanity when committing them.

The Chagos Archipelagos are a collection of small islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Under British administration since 1814, they were home to approximately 1000 inhabitants by the 1960s who lived on and cultivated the land, educated their children and raised their families.

In 1964, the British and the United States governments entered into secret negotiations the outcome of which was the establishment of a military base on Diego Garcia, the Chagos Archipelagos largest islands. In order to do so, from 1965 until 1971, the population of Chagos was forcibly relocated: those who had left on trips abroad were denied re-entry, an embargo was put in place preventing the delivery of crucial food supplies and the remaining population was forcibly loaded onto ships and relocated to Mauritius and the Seychelles.

The present civil suit is brought by the indigenous peoples of Chagos, their survivors and their descendants against the United States and a number of high-ranking individuals within the US Government whom the plaintiffs consider responsible for their forcible relocation. By a decision of 21 December 2004, the District Court for the District of Columbia held that the case was not justiciable as it required the judiciary to review political questions. On appeal, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the decision of the lower court. 

During the Rwandan genocide, Tharcisse Muvunyi was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Rwandan army and was stationed at the École des Sous-Officiers (ESO) in Butare prefecture. 

On 12 September 2006, Muvunyi was convicted by Trial Chamber II of this Tribunal for several acts of genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, and other inhumane acts and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment.

On 29 August 2008, the Appeals Chamber set aside all convictions and the sentence, but ordered a retrial on one count of direct and public incitement to commit genocide.

This is the summary of the retrial. According to the indictment, Muvunyi had spoken at a meeting at the Gikore Centre in Nyaruhengeri commune, Butare prefecture, in early May 1994 and had incited the killing of Tutsis by using Kinyarwanda proverbs that had been understood by the local population as a call to exterminate the Tutsis, violating Article 2(3)(c) of the Statute.

The Trial Chamber found the Accused guilty of direct and public incitement to commit genocide and sentenced him to 15 years of imprisonment.