Media Leaders Convicted of Genocide

[Guest guest]

prison In a statement, the tribunal reported that a bench of three judges had

sentenced Ferdinand Nahimana, a founder and ideologist of the Radio Télévision

des Mille Collines (RTLM) and Hassan Ngeze, editor in chief of Kangura

newspaper, to life in prison for their involvement in the 1994 genocide that

claimed at least 800,000 lives. The third defendant, Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, a

board member of the Comité d'initiative of the RTLM and founding member of the

Coalition for the Defence of Republic (CDR) political party, was sentenced to

35 years in prison. They were found guilty of genocide, incitement to genocide,

conspiracy and crimes against humanity - extermination and persecution. The

judgement, in the trial that had been known as the Media Case, was delivered by

Judges Navanethem Pillay (presiding), Erik Møse and Asoka de Zoysa

Gunawardana.The tribunal reported that the case examined the role of the RTLM

radio station and Kangura newspaper in the genocide in Rwanda. "It also

reviewed the role of the CDR, a party found by the Chamber to have spearheaded

the Hutu Power movement, which created a political framework for the genocide,"

the tribunal reported. In their ruling, the judges observed that in a radio

interview broadcast at the height of the genocide on 25 April 1994, Nahimana,

talked of the "war of media, words, newspapers and radio stations", which he

described as a complement to bullets. "You were fully aware of the power of

words, and you used the radio, the medium of communication with the widest

public reach to disseminate hatred and violence," Pillay told Nahimana when she

read the court's ruling. She added, "Without a firearm, machete or any physical

weapon, you caused the death of thousands of innocent civilians." Barayagwiza,

who was tried in absentia after he boycotted the trial, was convicted for his

role in RTLM, as well as for individual acts of genocide and extermination and

his leadership role in the CDR. Ngeze, also a founding

member of CDR, was convicted for his activities in "ordering, instigating and

aiding and abetting acts of genocide", as well as for his writings in Kangura.

The tribunal reported that the judges found that Tutsi women, in particular,

were targeted for persecution through the portrayal of the Tutsi woman as a

"femme fatale", and the message that Tutsi women were "seductive agents of the

enemy". "The power of the media to create and destroy fundamental human values

comes with great responsibility," Pillay said. "Those who control such media

are accountable for its consequences". The trial opened on 23 October 2000 and

ended on 22 August 2003 after 230 trial days.

Personals Single? There's someone we'd like you to meet. Lots of

someones, actually. Try Personals