UN Court Overturns Rwanda Genocide Conviction

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By Adebayo Somuyiwa

Published: November 21, 2009

UN Court Overturns Rwanda Genocide Conviction

By Adebayo Somuyiwa

A Rwandan businessman who was sentenced to 20 years in jail for organizing the killing of around 1,000 Tutsis during Rwanda’s genocide has been acquitted by a United Nations appeals court. The judge ordered the immediate release of Protais Zigiranyirazo after ruling that his trial and conviction in 2008 included serious errors and mishandling of evidence which violated “the most basic principles of justice”. Mr. Zigiranyirazo is the brother-in-law of former Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, whose death in April 1994 sparked the 100-day genocide that led to the massacre of around 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda.

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