News

Rwandan expelled from US given life genocide term

By AFP

April 13, 2024 07:10 PM


Twitter Share Facebook Share WhatsApp Share

A Rwandan woman expelled to her homeland three years ago from the United States has been given a life sentence for her role in the country's 1994 genocide, The New Times newspaper reported Saturday.

A court in the southern town of Huye found Beatrice Munyenyezi guilty of the charges murder as a genocide crime, complicity in genocide, incitement to commit genocide and complicity in rape.

However she was acquitted on a charge of planning genocide, the Rwandan-based national paper said.

The sentencing came days after Rwanda marked 30 years since the genocide carried out by the extremist Hutu regime between April and July 1994, which left more than 800,000 people dead, mostly Tutsi but also moderate Hutus, according to a UN tally.

Munyenyezi, 54, denied all the charges against her. But the court concluded she was guilty of ordering and committing murders and attacks herself, including that of a nun who was raped on her orders.

Nicknamed the "commander," the investigation and several witness accounts said that Munyenyezi was supervising a roadblock in Huye -- then called Butare -- where she identified Tutsis and had them killed, and also encouraged Hutu extremists to rape women.

She was deported in April 2021 from the United States after serving a ten-year prison sentence there for lying about her involvement in the genocide as she set about obtaining American citizenship, saying she faced persecution in her own country.

The case attracted US attention as her mother-in-law Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, a former minister in the genocidal regime, and her husband Arsene Shalom Ntahobali, a former local militia leader, were also on trial for genocide crimes at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania.

They were also sentenced to life in prison, in 2011, before their terms were reduced to 47 years on appeal.

 

 


AFP


Most Read

  1. 20 passengers perish in Chilas bus plunge 20 passengers perish in Chilas bus plunge
  2. Daughters defend Bushra Bibi Daughters defend Bushra Bibi
  3. Pakistani-origin woman laid off by Elon Musk gives emotional reaction Pakistani-origin woman laid off by Elon Musk gives emotional reaction
  4. Pakistan's historic moon mission aboard China rocket blasts off Pakistan's historic moon mission aboard China rocket blasts off
  5. The Great Indian Kapil Show: Astonishing per-episode fees of cast revealed! The Great Indian Kapil Show: Astonishing per-episode fees of cast revealed!
  6. And they lived happily ever after! Ishq Murshid's last episode sparks joy among fans And they lived happily ever after! Ishq Murshid's last episode sparks joy among fans

Opinion

  1. PM Shehbaz Sharif, WEF and Pakistan
    PM Shehbaz Sharif, WEF and Pakistan

    By Naveed Aman Khan

  2. Employing global best practices in Pakistan-Saudi ties
    Employing global best practices in Pakistan-Saudi ties

    By Nasim Zehra

  3. PML-N smashed PTI in by-polls
    PML-N smashed PTI in by-polls

    By News Desk

  4. Riding the Digital Wave: How Technology is Rewriting the Script of Economic Prosperity
    Riding the Digital Wave: How Technology is Rewriting the Script of Economic Prosperity

    By News Desk

  5. Tax on solar energy: Govt's misplaced priorities favour powerful stakeholders over people welfare  
    Tax on solar energy: Govt's misplaced priorities favour powerful stakeholders over people welfare  

    By Manzoor Qadir

  6. Legacy of Indian military subjugation in Kashmir
    Legacy of Indian military subjugation in Kashmir

    By Dr Ghulam Nabi Fai