This Week in Who's Going to Jail
Published November 01, 2009 @ 07:22AM PT
The wheels of justice keep on turnin':
A Rwandan actor "known for his humour [and] ability to act diverse roles and linguistic prowess" will spend 19 years in prison for his role in instigating the massacre of Tutsis during the 1994 genocide, thanks to a verdict from a gacaca court last week.
A fellow Rwandan genocidaire became the first person convicted under a Canadian law allowing for the prosecution of war crimes committed abroad; Desire Munyaneza received a life sentence from a Montreal court for his role in the killings.
Rwanda also plans to request the extradition from Italy of a Hutu priest accused of involvement in the massacre of 80 students at the school where he was the headmaster in 1994.
Meanwhile, over at the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia, notorious Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is essentially being tried for genocide in absentia, on account of the fact that he boycotted the opening of the trial last week and reportedly will continue to do so next week -- which presents an interesting dilemma for the court, given that Karadzic is defending himself.
And finally, in a bit of an odd twist, a British bishop was fined $16,822 by a German court for denying the Holocaust in an interview on Swedish television. The story became an international scandal with the Vatican restored the ex-communicated ultra-conservative Bishop Richard Williamson earlier this year.
[UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe: Security Council Meeting Considers Genocide Crimes
A Security Council meeting during its consideration of the prosecution of persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. 04 June 2009.]
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Author
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Michelle became involved in the anti-genocide cause at a young age, and has been involved in various activist endeavors, including the Teach Against Genocide pilot campaigns, ever since.
