MIRINDIMO

A former Rwandan minister has been jailed for life for genocide and incitement to rape at the United Nations-backed court for Rwanda in Tanzania.Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, who is the only woman to be convicted by the court, was minister for family and women's affairs in the Rwandan government when some 800,000 people, mainly ethnic Tutsis, were killed in 1994.
She was accused of direct and public incitement to commit genocide and of being responsible for rape "as part of a widespread and systematic attack against a civilian population on political, ethnic and racial grounds," the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) said.
Her son, Arsene Shalom Ntahobali, a militia leader who was jointly charged in the case, was also convicted Friday of genocide, crimes against humanity including rape and persecution and war crimes, and sentenced to life in prison.Four local officials who were accused alongside Nyiramasuhuko and her son were all found guilty of genocide and other charges. They were handed prison terms ranging from 25 years to life.Nyiramasuhuko, who was arrested in 1997 in Kenya, and taken to the U.N. court in Tanzania to await trial, was found guilty of seven of the counts she faced, ICTR spokesman Roland Amoussouga told CNN. They included charges of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity including rape and persecution.Two charges were dismissed, one of complicity to commit genocide and a second relating to murder and crimes against humanity. She was also cleared of two charges, one alleging direct and public incitement to commit genocide and another of inhumane acts and crimes against humanity.The Rwandan genocide was triggered by the April 6, 1994, shooting down of a plane carrying the nation's Hutu president.Ethnic violence erupted and Tutsis were killed systematically by Hutus.
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Source: CNN