According to the Hirondelle News Agency in Arusha, the Assize Court of Brussels unanimously sentenced on 1 Dec 2009, Ephrem Nkezabera, dubbed the ‘genocide banker’, to 30 years in prison for war crimes including murder and rape during the 1994 genocide.
It is the first time in Belgian judicial history that rape is considered a war crime.
At the time of the genocide, Nkezabera, 57, was one of the five directors of the Commercial Bank of Rwanda, the economic and financial advisor of the Interahamwe militia, and a shareholder of the extremist radio station RTLM.
Undergoing treatment for cancer, he had not attended his month-long trial. He was also absent when the verdict was announced - and so were his lawyers. The defendant’s request for a postponement of the proceedings on medical grounds had been dismissed.
The Assize Court followed the recommendation of the Prosecutor who had called for a 30-year sentence rather than lifelong imprisonment, partly in consideration of Nkezabera’s cooperation during the investigation.
Nkebazera admitted during the inquiry that he had financed the Interahamwe and the RTLM. However, he denied the rape charges, alleging willing partners.
Legally, he now has the right to oppose the sentence and to request a new trial in his presence.
The trial is the fourth in Belgium linked to the genocide in Rwanda. The Assize Court of Brussels has already condemned to heavy jail sentences two nuns, a university teacher and a businessman in 2001, two traders in 2005 and a former Major of the Rwandan army in July 2007.
Ephrem Nkezabera, who was in hiding in Brussels, was arrested in June 2004, at the request of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
Source: Hirondelle News Agency
