According to an interview given to Radio Rwanda by Prosecutor general Martin Ngoga, the fugitive could be sent back to Rwanda for trial though there is no extradition treaty between Kigali and Libreville.

He did not mention the exact date of the re-arrest.

The medical doctor was wanted by Interpol following an international arrest warrant issued by the Rwandan judiciary.

According to the prosecution in Rwanda, he allegedly took part in planning the genocide at the National University of Butare (Southern Rwanda) where he was a lecturer.

He is also accused of inciting young Hutus to kill and rape Tutsi women, together with former Minister of Family and Women Affairs, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko.  Nyiramasuhuko is awaiting judgement in her case before the Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

Dr. Ndindabahizi had been working at Melen hospital, in the outskirts of Libreville, the capital of Gabon.

Her story will live forth in the book “The Men Who Killed Me: Rwandan Survivors of Sexual Violence.” Françoise leaves behind four children, who now receive sponsorship money generated through the book’s proceeds.

In her testimonial, Françoise said: “I decided to share my testimony so that the world may know what happened to us in 1994.  We must never let this happen again and must build a better world for our children.” Let us honour her hope.

Françoise, you were a very brave, sweet woman who was loved by us all.  We will never forget you. May you rest in peace.

August 2010

Rape – a brutal act of violence almost as old as the human race and an intrinsic part of nearly every conflict since time immemorial as a “necessary bounty for fighting men”. Indeed, until very recently, the world largely turned a blind eye to the use of rape in war, regarding it as private actions committed by individuals. Perpetrators were and are rarely held accountable for their actions. Rape survivors, on the other hand, suffer severe stigma and discrimination, especially if they are also living with HIV. In addition, they largely shy away from speaking openly about sexual violence. In many conservative societies, rape survivors have also to endure the denial of their right to employment, to property and to inheritance. This, in turn, makes them economically and socially vulnerable, and in many cases leading to further violence in a world where, ironically, the phrases “human rights” and “women’s rights” appear almost daily in newspapers around the globe.

The stark reality of what rape survivors have to endure in today’s “free” world hits one like a ton of bricks when reading the intense, heart-wrenching testimonials of 17 genocidal rape victims as reported in this publication. Sixteen years after the 100-day genocide in Rwanda between April and June 1994, these 17 brave souls have become the voice of between 250 000 and 500 000 women, young boys and men, who were the victims of the genocidal sexual violence. Their faces, beautifully captured in black and white by photographer Samer Muscati, still bear the marks of intense suffering. They have survived, but at a great cost. They have lost the innocence of childhood, their partners, their families, their livelihood, their homes, their self-respect and in many cases, their health, since many of them were deliberately infected with HIV by the Hutu perpetrators, in an orchestrated method to ensure that the future sexual partners and children of Tutsi survivors would be infected as well and eventually be killed by the disease.

For the full review by Dr Anna-Mart van Wyk of Monash University, South Africa, click here.

According to Denis Bikesha, the director of training, mobilisation and sensitisation of the National Service of Gacaca Jurisdictions (NSGJ), proceedings will continue in April.  He gave no new deadline for the end of all trials.

Around 500 cases are believed to be still pending before gacaca courts, which began their actual trials only five years ago.  Roughly one million people have so far been judged.

The gacaca courts, adapted from a form of Rwandan traditional justice, are tasked with trying suspected perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide which left some 800,000 people dead, according to the U.N.   These village courts, whose judges are elected from the community, can hand down sentences of up to life imprisonment, which is now the maximum penalty in Rwanda.

Many genocide survivors regret that “gacaca justice” has not helped to resolve outstanding problems, notably the restoration to their rightful owners of assets which were taken away by force in 1994, or their correct appraisal in view of full compensation.

In all, this year’s judges (Marian Bantjes, Linda Gustafson, and Peter Koch) selected 30 winning titles for the 28th annual Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada. The books were chosen from 252 Canadian entries published in 2009, from 9 provinces and 108 publishers.

The Alcuin Award winning books will be exhibited internationally: in Germany, at the Frankfurt and Leipzig Book Fairs; in England, at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library and the Norwich University College of the Arts; and in Japan, at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, in conjunction with the Tokyo International Book Fair. The books will also be exhibited in 19 venues across Canada. They will compete in the international book design competition in Leipzig, Germany in February 2011.

For a list of all the other winners, click here.

“We delivered our request on March 6,” Ibuka President Théodore Simburudali told Hirondelle News Agency. “We are now waiting for concrete actions from the Parliament.”

According to Ibuka,  twenty-six genocide survivors were murdered in 2009 in Rwanda. Nine women and several children are said to be among the victims, who were allegedly drowned, cut into pieces, beheaded or blown up by hand grenades.

Six other survivors escaped murder attempts.

According to Simburudali, many of those targeted had testified for the prosecution or sat as judges during Gacaca trials.

Threats against genocide survivors were top of the agenda at Ibuka’s 11th Ordinary Congress in Kigali on March 21.

The Congress also discussed the outcome of the gacaca trials which are due to finish at the end of this month. The gacaca courts, adapted from a form of Rwandan traditional justice, are tasked with judging the majority of genocide cases. But according to Ibuka, there are still genocide suspects at large. Ibuka also highlighted that thousands of convicts assigned to public service work had escaped and were not serving their sentences.

Ibuka said it condemned “the acquittal of some notorious genocidaires; trials held to settle scores against survivors; failure to implement certain sentences linked to looting and destruction of property; as well as corruption of some Gacaca judges and of some witnesses, including survivors.”

Sixteen years after the genocide, many survivors still have no home, no access to medical care and no school fees, according to Congress delegates. This is despite the existence of an Assistance Fund for Genocide Survivors (AFGS).

“The number of recipients increases every year instead of going down as non-survivors have been managing to get registered on our lists,” AFGS Secretary-General Ildephonse Niyonsenga told the Congress.

Written 15 years after the Rwandan genocide, The Men Who Killed Me features testimonials from 17 survivors. Through their narratives and portraits, 16 women and one man bear witness to the crimes committed against hundreds of thousands of others. Proceeds from the book and licensing of the photographs go to Mukomeze, a charitable organization that improves the lives of girls and women who survived sexual violence in the Rwandan genocide. Samer’s photos are also currently on exhibit at the International Criminal Court in the Hague (until the end of April)!

Included in Samer’s body of work is the striking portrait of Marie Louise Niyobuhungiro (seen at right in a different photo) that Studio 180 used with her permission as the central image of the show’s poster.

For the full article, click here.

The March 6 hearing will be held in camera, according to rules concerning rape cases.  The names of the victims will not be disclosed.

At the conclusion of his initial trial in December 2009, Mugemanyi was given a life sentence.  He was found guilty of complicity in several murders–amongst them the murder of a well-known singer Loti Bizimana, of illegal confinement, as well as of rape and sexual abuses in his Kigali neighborhood of Nyakabanda.

The defendant lodged an appeal.

The three main witnesses of the prosecution are Mugemanyi’s co-accused.

Source: Hirondelle News Agency

As reported by the Hirondelle News Agency, the court granted Nkezabera’s request on grounds that he could neither attend his trial nor the verdict as he was suffering from cancer.  According to the Registry, the Assize Court’s schedule was overbooked and a new trial was not possible before next year.

At the time of the genocide, Nkezabera, 57, was one of the five Directors of the Commercial Bank of Rwanda.  He was also the economic and financial advisor of the notorious Interahamwe militia and a shareholder of the hate-radio station RTLM.

During the judicial investigation, Nkezabera conceded to having armed and financed Interahamwe in order to exterminate Tutsis and moderate Hutus.  He also admitted that during a public meeting in 1993 he had “encouraged” the Interahamwe to carry out massacres.

Nkezabera also admitted to have made financial contributions to the notorious RTLM radio station, which openly called for killings of ethnic Tutsis on its airwaves.  However, the accused rejected the rape charge.

The Assize Court of Brussels had unanimously sentenced Nkezabera for war crimes, including murder and rape. It was the first time in Belgian judicial history that rape was considered a war crime.

Source: Hirondelle News Agency