A.     The Tribunal and its Jurisdiction

1.      This Judgement in the case of The Prosecutor v. Laurent Semanza is rendered by Trial Chamber III (“Trial Chamber” or “Chamber”) of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (“Tribunal”), composed of Judge Yakov Ostrovsky, presiding, Judge Lloyd G. Williams, QC, and Judge Pavel Dolenc.

2.      The Tribunal was established by the United Nations Security Council after the Council considered official United Nations reports indicating that genocide and widespread, systematic, and flagrant violations of international humanitarian law had been committed in Rwanda. [1] The Security Council determined that this situation constituted a threat to international peace and security; determined to put an end to such crimes and to bring to justice the persons responsible for them; and expressed conviction that the prosecution of such persons would contribute to the process of national reconciliation and to the restoration and maintenance of peace. Consequently, on 8 November 1994, the Security Council acting under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter adopted Resolution 955 establishing the Tribunal. [2]

3.      The Tribunal is governed by the Statute annexed to Resolution 955 (“Statute”), and by its Rules of Procedure and Evidence (“Rules”). [3]

4.      Pursuant to the Statute, the Tribunal has the authority to prosecute persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of Rwanda and Rwandan citizens responsible for such violations committed in the territory of neighbouring states. Under Article 1 of the Statute, ratione temporis jurisdiction is limited to acts committed between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994. The Tribunal has ratione materiae jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, and serious violations of Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions (“Common Article 3”) and Additional Protocol II thereto, as provided in Articles 2, 3, and 4 of the Statute. The provisions of Articles 2, 3, and 4 are set out below in Chapter IV.

B.     The Indictment

5.      The initial indictment against Laurent Semanza (“Accused”) containing seven counts was submitted by the Prosecutor on 16 October 1997 and was confirmed by Judge Lennart Aspegren on 23 October 1997.

6.      On 31 May 1999, the Prosecutor moved the Chamber for leave to amend the initial indictment by adding seven new counts. On 18 June 1999, the Chamber orally granted the Prosecution application after having noted no objection from the Defence. However, the Chamber ordered the Prosecution to further substantiate the concise statement of facts in the indictment with respect to the new charges, in particular those based on Common Article 3 and Additional Protocol II. The written reasons for the Chamber’s decision were reserved. The Prosecution filed the first amended indictment on 23 June 1999. On 24 June 1999, the Prosecution made an oral application for leave to correct minor translation discrepancies between the English and French versions of the first amended indictment. The Trial Chamber orally granted leave to do so. On 2 July 1999, the Prosecutor filed the second amended indictment to comply with the Chamber’s decision of 24 June 1999. On 1 September 1999, the Chamber handed down the written version of the decision rendered orally on 18 June 1999 with respect to the Prosecutor’s Motion for Leave to Amend the Indictment. In compliance with that decision, on 12 October 1999, the Prosecutor filed the third amended indictment (“Indictment”). This Indictment contains the final version of the Prosecutor’s charges and is the basis of the present Judgement. The text of the Indictment is set out in Annex I to this Judgement.

7.      The Indictment charges the Accused with fourteen counts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and serious violations of Common Article 3 and Additional Protocol II.

8.      The Indictment alleges that the Accused acted with the intent to destroy the Tutsi population in Rwanda as an ethnic or racial group. It is further stated that the Accused’s acts formed part of a widespread or systematic attack against the Tutsi civilian population on political, ethnic, or racial grounds and that these acts were committed during and in conjunction with a non-international armed conflict in the territory of Rwanda between its Government and the Rwandan Patriotic Front (“RPF”).

9.      It is alleged in the Indictment that the Accused organized, executed, directed, and personally participated in attacks, which included killings, serious bodily or mental harm, and sexual violence, at four locations in Bicumbi and Gikoro communes during the month of April 1994. The Indictment alleges that the Accused is responsible for crimes that occurred on or about 10 April 1994 at Ruhanga church in Gikoro commune (paragraph 3.10); between 9 and 13 April 1994 at Musha church in Gikoro commune (paragraph 3.11); between 7 and 20 April 1994 at Mwulire Hill in Bicumbi commune (paragraph 3.12); and about 12 April 1994 at Mabare mosque in Bicumbi commune (paragraph 3.13). For his alleged involvement in the attacks at Ruhanga church, Musha church, Mwulire Hill, and Mabare mosque, the Accused is charged with: genocide (Count 1) and complicity to commit genocide (Count 3); murder (Count 4), extermination (Count 5), persecution (Count 6), and rape (Count 8) as crimes against humanity; rape and other serious violations of Common Article 3 and Additional Protocol II listed in Article 4(a) of the Statute (Count 7), and rape and other forms of indecent assault as serious violations of Common Article 3 and Additional Protocol II (Count 9).

10.  The Indictment also states that during the Musha church attack, the Accused, along with Gikoro Bourgmestre Paul Bisengimana, cut off the arm of Victim C, resulting in his death (paragraph 3.18). For this act the Accused is charged with torture (part of Count 11) and murder (part of Count 12) as crimes against humanity, and with serious violations of Common Article 3 and Additional Protocol II (part of Count 13).

11.  The Indictment further alleges that between 1991 and 1994, the Accused chaired meetings during which he made threatening remarks against Tutsi, and where he incited, planned, and organized the massacres of Tutsi civilians (paragraphs 3.7 and 3.8), for which he is charged with direct and public incitement to commit genocide (Count 2).

12.  The Indictment asserts that between 7 and 30 April 1994, in Gikoro commune, the Accused incited a group to rape Tutsi women before killing them, resulting in the rape of two women and the death of one of them (paragraph 3.17). For this event, the Accused is charged with rape (Count 10), torture (part of Count 11), and murder (part of Count 12) as crimes against humanity; and with serious violations of Common Article 3 and Additional Protocol II (part of count 13).

13.  Finally, the Indictment alleges that on 8 April 1994, the Accused instigated a group of Interahamwe in Bicumbi to kill members of a particular Tutsi family, resulting in the death of four family members and two neighbours (paragraph 3.19), for which he is charged with murder as a crime against humanity (Count 14).

14.  For all the Counts, except for incitement to commit genocide (Count 2) and complicity in genocide (Count 3), the Accused is charged cumulatively with all forms of personal responsibility pursuant to Article 6(1) and with superior responsibility under Article 6(3) of the Statute.

C.     The Accused

15.  The Indictment alleges that the Accused was born in 1944 in Musasa commune, Kigali Rural prefecture, Rwanda. He was bourgmestre of Bicumbi commune for more than twenty years, until being replaced by Juvenal Rugambarara in 1993. After he ceased to serve as bourgmestre, the Accused remained a member of the Mouvement Républicain National et Démocratique (“MRND”), which, up to 1994, was the political party of the President of Rwanda, Juvénal Habyarimana. The Accused was nominated as an MRND representative to the National Assembly which was to be established pursuant to the Arusha Accords.