Ex-leader 'must get life'

2005-12-06 14:10

Kigali - Rwandan prosecutors called for life in prison for the country's first post-genocide president, Pasteur Bizimungu, during his appeal at the Supreme Court about his conviction on criminal charges.

Bizimungu was sentenced to 15 years in jail after his June 2004 conviction for criminal association, embezzlement and incitement to civil disobedience.

The prosecutors in Kigali also called late on Monday for a life term against Charles Ntakirutinka, Bizimungu's transport minister who had been sentenced initially to 10 years, and six other co-accused.

Serious crimes

Chief prosecutor Emmanuel Rukangira said the accused had committed "serious crimes".

He said: "We hope that the court will make a decision that will serve as an example to anyone with ideas that could damage state security."

The prosecution had also called for life sentences for Bizimungu and the others during their original trial.

It wasn't immediately clear when the court would give its verdict.

Bizimungu, who was president from 1994 to 2000, and his co-defendants, claimed they were the victims of persecution by the government after they attempted to start a new political party in 2002.

Hounded out of office

Bizimungu, 55 and a Hutu, was installed as Rwanda's president in a gesture of reconciliation by the Tutsi rebel group that seized power in 1994 and put an end to three months of genocide in which some 800 000, mainly Tutsis, were slaughtered.

But, he was hounded out of office four years later and succeeded by his more powerful vice-president and defence minister, President Paul Kagame, whose Rwandan Patriotic Front had initially made Bizimungu head of state.

The prosecution of Bizimungu and his co-defendants had been criticised by human rights groups, which said the circumstances of their arrests, conditions of detention and the trial itself fell far short of international standards.

- AFP