NAIROBI, KENYA — The ringleader of the 1994 Rwanda genocide was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for his role in the early days of an ethnic slaughter that eventually killed an estimated 800,000 people.
Theoneste Bagosora, 67, is the highest-ranking military officer convicted at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The former colonel's prosecution is viewed as a significant step in efforts to punish war crimes.
"This victory sends a message to people like the warlords in Darfur or those committing horrendous rapes and killings in Congo," said Barbara Mulvaney, a Southern California lawyer who served as chief prosecutor. "Every time one of these guys goes down, the message is: Sooner or later you are going to be held accountable."
Judges found Bagosora, as cabinet director of the Defense Ministry, culpable in the deaths of former Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, four opposition leaders and 10 Belgian peacekeepers, all killed in the early hours of the genocide. He was also convicted of overseeing four days of deadly rampages across the country.
But judges rejected allegations that Bagosora and others had plotted as early as 1990 to prepare for the genocide. Tribunal officials had charged Bagosora with "conspiracy to commit genocide," hoping a conviction on the charge would refute those who still denied genocide had occurred and who claimed the violence was a spontaneous eruption of ethnic hostility.
The judges affirmed that genocide took place, but ruled that evidence was insufficient to prove Bagosora and others conspired in advance to commit the mass killings.
The 100-day massacre, which began in April 1994 and pitted Hutu extremists against Tutsi and Hutu moderates, was the most efficient and chillingly personal human slaughter in modern history.
Incited by hate messages on radio and armed by government officials, ordinary Rwandans -- including teachers, doctors and priests -- carried out much of the killing by hand with machetes. Neighbors turned against neighbors, spouses against spouses.
The verdict brought a much-needed victory to the United Nations-sponsored tribunal, which has been accused of spending too much time and money to prosecute crimes that occurred 14 years ago. By convicting the man many viewed as the mastermind of the genocide, the tribunal has accomplished one of its chief mandates, legal experts said.
