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RWANDA: Ex-soldier sentenced to 20 years in jail for murder of UN soldiers

06 Jul 2007 11:14:37 GMT
Source: IRIN

BRUSSELS, 6 July 2007 (IRIN) - A court in Belgium has sentenced a former Rwandan military officer to 20 years in prison after finding him guilty of involvement in the murder of 10 Belgian soldiers at the beginning of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Bernard Ntuyahaga, 55, a former major in the army, was sentenced on 5 July, a day after he was convicted. He was accused of responsibility in the disarming of the Belgians, who were then serving in the United Nations peacekeeping force, and in their subsequent killing in Kigali, the Rwandan capital.

Federal prosecutor Philippe Meire had urged the court to pronounce a life sentence.

The court considered as mitigating circumstance the fact that Ntuyahaga was "only a link in an important chain" at a time when incitement and hate messages were being circulated by the then authorities in Rwanda.

According to Rwandan government estimates, 937,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during three months of bloodletting sparked by the death of president Juvenal Habyarimana when his plane was brought down over Kigali on 6 April 1994.

Ntuyahaga surrendered to Belgian authorities after an international warrant of arrest was issued by a judge there in 1995.

He had denied the charges. "The truth will triumph sooner or later," he said after he was convicted.

Christine Dupont, widow of one of the murdered soldiers, said she was disappointed that Ntuyahaga was not sentenced to life in jail. "Ntuyahaga was without doubt a link in the chain, but he was a major and he had great responsibilities."

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Last updated:Fri Jul 6 11:17:42 2007