Appeals Chamber Affirms Rukundo’s and Kalimanzira’s Convictions but Reduces their Sentences

The  Appeals  Chamber  of  the  International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda,
composed  of  Judges  Fausto  Pocar,  presiding,  Mehmet  Güney, Liu Daqun,
Theodor  Meron,  and  Carmel  Agius,  today delivered two judgements in the
cases  of the Prosecutor vs Emmanuel Rukundo and The Prosecutor vs Callixte
Kalimanzira.

The Chamber affirmed the conviction of Rukundo, a former Military Chaplain,
for genocide and for murder and extermination as crimes against humanity in
relation  to  the  events  related  to  Saint  Joseph’s College and for the
killing  of Tutsi refugees abducted from the Saint Léon Minor Seminary. But
it  did so on the basis of his responsibility for aiding and abetting these
crimes rather than committing them as the Trial Chamber III had found on 27
February  2009.  In  addition, the Appeals Chamber, Judge Pocar dissenting,
reversed  Rukundo’s  conviction for genocide by causing serious mental harm
to a Tutsi woman when he sexually assaulted her.

The  Appeals  Chamber  then  reduced  Rukundo’s  sentence  to  23  years of
imprisonment  from  the  25  years he had previously been sentenced to. The
Prosecution appeal was dismissed in its entirety.

The  Appeals  Chamber  also  affirmed the conviction of Kalimanzira, former
directeur  de  cabinet in the Ministry of Interior, for aiding and abetting
genocide  at  Kabuye  hill  but  reduced  his  sentence  from  the 30 years
imprisonment he received earlier to 25 years. The Chamber, with Judge Pocar
dissenting  in  certain  instances,  reversed  Kalimanzira’s  remaining
convictions  after  finding  several  factual and legal errors in the Trial
Chamber’s  assessment. The Appeals Chamber dismissed the Prosecution appeal
in its entirety.

Trial Chamber III, on 22 June 2009, found Kalimanzira guilty of instigating
and  aiding  and abetting genocide at the roadblock on Butare-Gisagara road
around  22  April  1994,  at  Kabuye  hill  on  23  April  1994  and at the
inauguration  of  Élie  Ndayambaje  as bourgmestre of Muganza Commune on 22
June  1994. In addition, it convicted Kalimanzira for committing direct and
public incitement to commit genocide in Butare prefecture.

Rukundo  was  born  on  1  December  1959  in  Mukingi  Commune,  Gitarama
Prefecture,  Rwanda.  In  February  1993,  Rukundo, an ordained priest, was
appointed  as  a  military  chaplain  for  the  Rwandan army, a position he
maintained  throughout the relevant events. Kalimanzira was born in 1953 in
Muganza  Commune,  Butare  Prefecture, Rwanda and held various positions in
the Rwandan government.