A court docket within the Netherlands has sentenced Rwandan-born Dutch citizen referred to as Eugene Ntambara to life imprisonment after convicting him of genocide and conflict crimes dedicated through the 1994 Genocide in opposition to the Tutsi.
The Hague District Court docket handed down the sentence on Friday, August 28, over Ntambara’s function in assaults in opposition to Tutsi within the former Mbazi Commune, within the former Butare Prefecture (at the moment’s Huye District.
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Dutch prosecutors had accused Ntambara of collaborating within the killing of about 3,000 Tutsi who had sought refuge at Byiza Stadium in Mbazi.
The court docket discovered that Ntambara participated in assaults through which Tutsi properties had been looted and set on fireplace earlier than the bloodbath on the stadium. It additionally discovered that he prevented Tutsi who had sought refuge there from escaping and threw a grenade into the group.
1000’s of Tutsi had been killed on the stadium.
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The court docket convicted Ntambara of genocide and conflict crimes however acquitted him of a separate cost of incitement to genocide, in accordance with the BBC.
The trial adopted a Dutch investigation that started in 2020 after Rwandan authorities issued a world arrest warrant for Ntambara in 2014.
Ntambara fled Rwanda in 1998 and later obtained Dutch citizenship. As a result of Dutch regulation doesn’t permit the extradition of its nationals to Rwanda, Dutch authorities investigated and prosecuted the case within the Netherlands.
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The Worldwide Crimes Staff of the Dutch police travelled to Rwanda a number of occasions to interview witnesses and conduct investigations at websites linked to the crimes. Ntambara was arrested in Ede on February 14, 2024.
Dutch prosecutors mentioned greater than 40 witnesses had been interviewed by investigators, whereas 31 witnesses had been heard by an inspecting Justice of the Peace. 9 survivors additionally exercised their proper to deal with the court docket through the trial.
Rwanda welcomes conviction
Jean Damascène Bizimana, the Minister of Nationwide Unity and Civic Engagement, welcomed Ntambara's conviction, saying it demonstrated that folks accountable for the Genocide in opposition to the Tutsi can not completely escape justice by fleeing overseas.
In an announcement posted on Friday, Bizimana described Ntambara as one of many perpetrators concerned within the bloodbath of Tutsi at Byiza Stadium.
“This can be a lesson to different genocide perpetrators who’ve sought refuge overseas as a result of genocide is a world crime that doesn’t expire and is punished all through the world,” Bizimana mentioned.
He counseled the Netherlands for prosecuting Ntambara over crimes dedicated through the Genocide in opposition to the Tutsi.
“The Netherlands has executed commendable work in delivering justice to the greater than 10,000 Tutsi killed by extremists at Byiza Stadium, together with Ntambara Eugène,” Bizimana mentioned.
He added that the conviction was a step in the direction of justice for the victims and survivors of the Genocide in opposition to the Tutsi.
The conviction provides to efforts by overseas nations to prosecute individuals accused of collaborating within the 1994 Genocide in opposition to the Tutsi beneath the precept of common jurisdiction.
