The son-in-law of Kabuga transferred to serve the rest of his sentence in Senegal
Augustin Ngirabatware, a genocide convict who was a minister in Rwandan government before and during the genocide against the Tutsis, and the son-in-law of the famous Felicien Kabuga accused of being the genocide funder, was transferred by the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) to serve the rest of his sentence in Senegal.
In a document made public, Judge Carmel Agius of the MICT had instructed the court registrar to ensure the transfer of Ngirabatware to Senegal “for the enforcement of his sentence as expeditiously as possible” following the conclusion of a separate case he was accused of.
Ngirabatware was convicted in December 2012 for inciting, aiding and encouraging Hutu militiamen in his home district of Nyamyumba in northwestern Rwanda to kill and rape their Tutsi neighbors. His initial sentence of 35 years was reduced to 30 years in 2014 after the rape conviction was set aside. The sentence was otherwise confirmed in a review in 2019.
About Ngirabatware
Augustin Ngirabatware was born on January 12, 1957 in Gisenyi Commune. He was appointed Minister of Planning In July 1990, a position he retained as part of the Interim Rwandan Government in April 1994. He was also a member of the Préfecture Committee of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (“MRND”) political party in Gisenyi Préfecture, the National Committee of the MRND, and the technical committee of Nyamyumba Commune.
Ngirabatware was arrested in Frankfurt am Main, Germany on September 17, 2007 and transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in October 2008.
On December 20, 2012; the Trial Chamber of MICT convicted Ngirabatware of direct and public incitement to commit genocide, instigating and aiding and abetting genocide and, under the extended form of joint criminal enterprise (“JCE”), rape as a crime against humanity in Gisenyi prefecture, Rwanda, between 1 January and 17 July 1994. He was sentenced to 35 years of imprisonment.
On December 18, 2014; The Appeals Chamber reversed Ngirabatware’s conviction for rape as a crime against humanity under the extended form of JCE and affirmed his remaining convictions. In light of the reversal, the Appeals Chamber reduced Ngirabatware’s sentence to 30 years of imprisonment.
While it is generally preferable that prisoners are incarcerated in their own countries by governments, it is sometimes not the case. Rwandan judiciary previously expressed frustration after the now defunct International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda transferred genocide convicts of the tribunal to serve their sentences in Mali instead of Rwanda.