In two stories, the Hirondelle News Agency reports survivors are seeking an audience before the ICTR on “grossly inadequate” sentences before that Tribunal. In the first report, found here, two leading victims’ rights groups Ibuka and British NGO Survivors’ Fund have asked the ICTR’s Appeals Chamber to hear them as amicus curie (friends of the court) in the case of Rwandan former military leaders sentenced by the trial court on May 17, 2011.
The convicts concerned are: former army chief of staff Augustin Bizimungu (sentenced to 30 years in jail); former head of the Gendarmerie Augustin Ndindiliyimana (sentenced to time served and immediately released); former Commander of the Reconnaissance Battalion Francois-Xavier Nzuwonemeye (20 years); and Reconnaissance Battalion squad commander Innocent Sagahutu (20 years).
“The sentences imposed by the Trial Chamber do not further the primary sentencing goals of deterrence and retribution, tolerate impunity among those responsible for committing the gravest crimes, and demean the dignity of victims and survivors,” reads part of the application, obtained by Hirondelle.
The two organizations say that as representatives of Rwandan genocide victims, they seek only to have a voice so that the Tribunal could fashion sentences that better reflect its mission of preventing impunity and its commitment of doing justice to the victims’ memory.
Regrettably, they add, no victims were heard during the sentencing phase, whereas they could have assisted the Chamber in better evaluating the gravity of the offenders’ conduct.
The two groups say they have been forced to seek audience in the pending appeal after an Appeals Court decision which “drastically” reduced sentences on Colonel Theoneste Bagosora and Lieutenant Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva.
On December 14, 2011, the Chamber reduced life sentences imposed on Bagosora and Nsengiyumva to 35 and 15 years respectively. Nsengiyumva was released, as he had already served 15 years in preventive detention.
In the second report, the Hirondelle News Agency reports that the prosecution has supported the groups’ application:
“The prosecutor supports the request by Ibuka and Survivors Fund for leave to submit a brief as amicus curiae (in the case of ex-Rwandan military leaders, including two generals) in connection with the prosecutor’s sentencing appeals,” reads part of response obtained by Hirondelle News Agency.
“Notwithstanding the oral testimony of some victims who testified as witnesses, the prosecutor agrees that the victims’ collective voice, as such, was lacking during both the trial process and in the sentencing part of the judgment,” the prosecution submitted.
According to the response, victims were in a unique position to assist Chambers in the determination of appropriate sentences, particularly given the nature of crimes committed such as genocide and crimes against humanity, which resulted in mass killings and suffering of helpless Tutsi civilians in 1994.
