The UN tribunal on Rwanda yesterday found its first defendant guilty of genocide for the part he played in the 1994 massacres of ethnic Tutsis. The tribunal president, Judge Laity Kama, told the court that Jean Paul Akayesu, a Hutu schoolteacher who was mayor of Taba commune, was guilty of nine counts including genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the Geneva Conventions.
The three-judge court also found Akayesu guilty of crimes against humanity, with specific reference to rape.
The impersonal setting of the courtroom at the tribunal's headquarters in north Tanzania was in stark contrast to the bloody massacres that gripped Rwanda in 1994, when an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and thousands of Hutus were slaughtered.
As Akayesu was led away under armed guard, Judge Kama said a pre-sentencing hearing would open next Wednesday and would be completed by September 28th. Prosecution lawyers say an appeal is almost certain.
Judge Kama said that Akayesu had played a leading role in the genocide in Taba commune. As mayor he used his authority to incite and to supervise massacres of ethnic Tutsis, more than 2,000 of whom were killed between April 19th and the end of June, 1994.
As well as inciting other Hutus to kill and letting the communal offices be used for killings, beatings and rape, Akayesu also participated in some atrocities, the court heard.
Judge Kama accepted almost in its entirety the prosecution argument that Akayesu had been a respected mayor until mid-April, when he apparently decided to participate in the massacres after hearing a speech by the then prime minister, Jean Kambanda.
Kambanda has since pleaded guilty to genocide and crimes against humanity and will be sentenced tomorrow, court officials say.
A speech Akayesu made in the commune on April 19th marked the start of systematic killings of ethnic Tutsis in the area.
During the course of the summary Judge Kama made what are certain to become landmark rulings on the nature of genocide, crimes against humanity and the application of the Geneva Conventions.
"Based on the evidence submitted to the chamber it is clear that many . . . had a specific agenda, namely the extermination of the Tutsis. The chamber concludes that despite the conflict between the RAF (the government army of the time) and the RPF (then rebels, now in power) genocide was committed in Rwanda against the Tutsis."