Appeals Chamber Hears Oral Arguments in the Bagosora and Nsengiyumva Case
The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, composed of Judge Patrick Robinson, presiding, Judge Mehmet Güney, Judge Fausto Pocar, Judge Liu Daqun, and Judge Theodor Meron, on 30 March 2011 and 1 April 2011, heard the oral arguments in the appeals lodged by Théoneste Bagosora and Anatole Nsengiyumva against the Judgement pronounced by Trial Chamber I on 18 December 2008 and filed in writing on 9 February 2009. The case of Aloys Ntabakuze, which was scheduled to be heard at this time, was severed from that of Bagosora and Nsengiyumva in the interests of justice due to unavailability of Ntabakuze’s Counsel to present his appeal.
The Trial Chamber found Bagosora and Nsengiyumva guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity (murder, extermination, persecution, other inhumane acts, and, for Bagosora only, rapes), and serious violations of Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and of Additional Protocol II (violence to life and, for Bagosora only, outrages upon personal dignity) for crimes committed in April and June 1994 in Kigali, Gisenyi, and Kibuye prefectures. The Trial Chamber sentenced Bagosora and Nsengiyumva to life imprisonment.
Bagosora and Nsengiyumva contend that the Trial Chamber committed a number of errors of law and fact and request the Appeals Chamber to overturn their convictions. Bagosora requests in the alternative that the Appeals Chamber order a retrial.
At the time of the relevant events, Bagosora was directeur de cabinet in the Rwandan Ministry of Defence, and Nsengiyumva served as Commander of the Gisenyi Operational Sector.
The Appeals Chamber also heard the additional evidence of Marcel Gatsinzi, a witness of the Appeals Chamber, in relation to Bagosora’s appeal.
