Talk:Elizaphan Ntakirutimana

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography. For more information, visit the project page.
Biography Portal
Stub This article has been rated as Stub-Class on the project's quality scale. [FAQ]
Elizaphan Ntakirutimana is within the scope of WikiProject Seventh-day Adventist Church, which aims to improve Wikipedia's coverage of Seventh-day Adventist Church and Seventh-day Adventist Church-related topics. If you would like to participate, visit the project page.
Stub This article has been rated as stub-Class on the quality scale.
Low This article has been rated as low-importance on the importance scale.

Article Grading:
The article has been rated for quality and/or importance but has no comments yet. If appropriate, please review the article and then leave comments here to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article and what work it will need.
WikiProject Seventh-day Adventist Church To-do:

Actually (as the originator of the article has pointed out to me) from the judgement, Elizaphan Ntakirutimana was found guilty of "genocide", not of "participating in genocide"... The judgement states:

In respect of Elizaphan Ntakirutimana:

   Count 1A Mugonero & Count 1 Bisesero: Guilty of Genocide

   [Count 1B Mugonero & Count 2 Bisesero: Alternative Count of Complicity in Genocide is inapplicable]

   Count 2 Mugonero & Count 3 Bisesero: Not Guilty of Conspiracy to Commit Genocide

   Count 3 Mugonero & Count 4 Bisesero: Not Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity (Murder)

   Count 4 Mugonero & Count 5 Bisesero: Not Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity (Extermination)

   Count 5 Mugonero & Count 6 Bisesero: Not Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity (Other Inhumane Acts)

   Count 7 Bisesero: Not Guilty of Serious Violations of Article 3 Common to the Geneva Conventions and of Additional Protocol II

--Amortize 1 July 2005 13:21 (UTC)


Thank you for that. You are right, I was in fact referring to the legal definition of "genocide". The relevant document in this regard is the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, whose Article 2 specifies what, in the eyes of International Criminal Law, should constitute genocide. It reads as follows:

"Article 2: Genocide

1. The International Tribunal for Rwanda shall have the power to prosecute persons committing genocide as defined in paragraph 2 of this Article or of committing any of the other acts enumerated in paragraph 3 of this Article.

2. Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

3. The following acts shall be punishable: (a) Genocide; (b) Conspiracy to commit genocide; (c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide; (d) Attempt to commit genocide; (e) Complicity in genocide."

As you rightly point out, Ntakirutimana was found guilty of "genocide". "Participation in genocide" would, from a legal point of view, be misleading, as it may indicate that Ntakirutimana was not a principal perpetrator, but an aider and abettor in the crime. (In fact, he was acquitted of a charge of complicity in genocide, but was convicted of genocide).

Josias Bunsen 1 July 2005 17:40 (UTC)