Never again . . . again

June 3, 2006

Another United Nations' disgrace.

From the BBC:

A former Rwandan media director has been sentenced to six years in prison after admitting inciting violence during the 1994 genocide.

Joseph Serugendo this week agreed a plea bargain at a UN court, under which charges of genocide were dropped.

Serugendo, 53, is terminally ill. He was reportedly unable to stand in court and he remained expressionless as the sentence was delivered.

Some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the 1994 slaughter.

Serugendo is a former technical director of Radio Mille Collines (RTLM), which urged Hutus to murder Tutsis.

Judge Eric Mose at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda said he had taken "note of mitigating circumstances of the accused, notably his health," in the sentence.

The nature of Serugendo's illness was not disclosed but the judge said it was "fatal", according to the AFP news agency.

He becomes the 28th person, including other RTLM staff, found guilty by the ICTR, which was set up to try the ringleaders of the genocide.

He was arrested last year in Gabon and transferred to the ICTR in Arusha, Tanzania.

So, this . . . savage enjoyed freedom for eleven years after committing his crimes.  Then they allowed him to plea bargain, they drop the charges of genocide against him despite (or because of) his confession and sentence him to only six years. 

I hope he has to be carried from his cell before 2012.

If you would like some idea of the role and influence of RTLM in the Rwandan genocide watch the powerful and haunting 2004 film Hotel Rwanda.