A former Rwandan Minister of Justice Agnes Ntamabyariro was back in court Thursday to appeal a life sentence with special provisions which she was handed by the Nyarugenge Intermediate Court five years ago.

Ms Ntamabyariro, who was found guilty of genocide crimes in January 2009, is seeking a reduction of her prison term.

Ms Ntamabyariro was accused together with Jean Leonard Hategekimana, a former prosecutor in the southern district of Gitarama, who was cleared of any charges.

The duo were charged with colluding to kill Jean Baptiste Habyarimana, a former Prefect of Butare, as well as using their positions to orchestrate massacres of Tutsis in the Parish of Kabgayi, where thousands of the Tutsis had sought refuge between April and June 1994.

On January 15, 2014, Ms Ntamabyariro, the only member of the former interim government --which took over after the death of the then Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana-- to be tried by a Rwandan court for her alleged role in the 1994 killings, went to court to appeal the life sentence she was handed.

In her appeal, the former Justice Minister wants the sentence reduced, while the prosecution also petitioned to have her found guilty on some of the charges she was cleared in 2009.

Stalled appeal

The appeal, filed in February 2009, had stalled for the last five years after Ms Ntamabyariro’s co-accused, Mr Hategekimana, went missing. The prosecution said since the co-accused Mr Hategekimana has been cleared by court, the appeal could not take off until he was found to appear in court.

Upon reappearing, Mr Hategekimana requested the court to give him time to assess the submissions in the appeals made by both the prosecution and Ms Ntamabyariro before the hearing could kick off.

While her sentence is the highest according to Rwandan laws, the prosecution contends that the 77-year-old former politician should be found guilty on charges including supplying weapons among others.

On Thursday, the High Court moved the appeal hearing to April after Mr Hategikimana requested for more time to put together his defence.

Earlier in January, Ms Ntamabyariro had also requested time to get more lawyers, preferably from outside Rwanda to represent her.

Ms Ntamabyariro is accused of having been among the planners the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis and inciting the population to commit the crime.

She was charged with planning genocide, holding meetings in Nyanza and Kibuye to plan and organise the genocide, distribution of weapons and the assassination of Jean Baptiste Habyarimana, the former Governor of Butare.

Ms Ntamabyariro whose trial started in 2006, was controversially arrested in Zambia in 1997 and deported to Rwanda.

Prosecutors say Ms Ntamabyariro was an ‘approving spectator’ during the genocide and ‘initiator of the genocidal government’, who oversaw the killings of those who opposed the genocide.

She allegedly took part in the April 8, 1994 crisis committee meeting presided over by Theoneste Bagosora who is consider the ‘genocide mastermind’.

Other participants in the said meeting included General Augustin Ndindiliyimana, Colonel Tharcisse Renzaho, Prime Minister Jean Kambanda and President Theodore Sindikubwabo.

Majority of these were tried and sentenced by the International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (ICTR).
The appeal hearing resumes April 1.