Ferdinand Nahimana (born 15 June 1950) is a Rwandan historian, who was convicted of

incitement to genocide Incitement to genocide is a crime under international law which prohibits inciting (encouraging) the commission of genocide. An extreme form of hate speech, incitement to genocide is considered an inchoate offense and is theoretically subject t ...

for his role in the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed H ...

. Nahimana was co-founder of the radio station

Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) ( rw, Radiyo yigenga y'imisozi igihumbi) was a Rwandan radio station which broadcast from July 8, 1993 to July 31, 1994. It played a significant role in inciting the Rwandan genocide that took place from April to July 1994, and has been d ...

(RTLM), which during the genocide broadcast information and propaganda that helped coordinate the killings and fuel the hatred against

Tutsi The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic ...

and moderate

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the p ...

victims.

Personal life

Ferdinand Nahimana was born on 15 July in the Gatonde commune, in the Ruhengeri Prefecture. He is married with four children. He holds a Doctorate of History from the

University Paris Diderot Paris Diderot University, also known as Paris 7 (french: Université Paris Diderot), was a French university located in Paris, France. It was one of the inheritors of the historic University of Paris, which was split into 13 universities in 197 ...

. Between 1979 and 2007, he published many books and articles about Rwandan history.

Rwandan genocide

Under the terms of the Arusha peace agreements, he was nominated as Higher Education Minister for Culture and Scientific Research. Nahimana was a member of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development, Habyarimana's political party. Between 1979 and 1994, Nahimana is alleged to have written and published articles encouraging an uprising against the Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Having been dismissed from the Rwandan National Radio in 1993, he took part in the creation of the RTLM, and according to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), became its director. Due to this involvement, he was accused of having "directly encouraged" the killings. Between April 1993 and 31 July 1994, Ferdinand Nahimana was accused of having planned, directed and supported the broadcasts of the RTLM. The ICTR prosecutor alleged that “he was aware of the programmes and the effect that these programmes had on the population”. He was further accused of having organised, with the assistance of his brother, meetings between the MRND and the

Interahamwe The Interahamwe ( or ) is a Hutu paramilitary organization active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The Interahamwe was formed around 1990 as the youth wing of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND ...

military in the Ruhengeri Prefecture, with the intent of discussing the killings of Tutsis and Hutus. In April 1994, as the violence erupted in Rwanda after President

Juvénal Habyarimana Juvénal Habyarimana (, ; 8 March 19376 April 1994) was a Rwandan politician and military officer who served as the second president of Rwanda, from 1973 until 1994. He was nicknamed ''Kinani'', a Kinyarwanda word meaning "invincible". An ethn ...

's assassination, the French embassy took Ferdinand Nahimana in. On 12 April, the French embassy was evacuated and Nahimana, along with his family and others who had taken refuge there, was flown to Burundi. Burundi was unwilling to receive this group of refugees, and Nahimana was therefore sent by plane on 17 April to Bukavu. Nahimana and the other refugees were then repatriated to Rwanda on 23 April. Nahimana was later arrested in Cameroon on 27 March 1996.

Trial and sentence

Nahimana was indicted for

and tried at the

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR; french: Tribunal pénal international pour le Rwanda; rw, Urukiko Mpanabyaha Mpuzamahanga Rwashyiriweho u Rwanda) was an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nation ...

's Media Case by Gregory Gordon, together with two others who had been involved with the RTLM:

Hassan Ngeze Hassan Ngeze (born 25 December 1957) is a Rwandan journalist and convicted war criminal best known for spreading anti-Tutsi propaganda and Hutu superiority through his newspaper, ''Kangura'', which he founded in 1990. Ngeze was a founding member ...

and Jean Bosco Barayagwiza. Nahimana claimed that he was innocent and denied having editorial control of the RTLM broadcasts during the killings: "I couldn't recognise the RTLM of those days from the one that existed before 6 April. It had been appropriated by radicals, what are now called extremists, whose way of seeing and doing things I did not share". The " hate media trials" received attention since it was the first time since the

Nuremberg trials The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded m ...

that hate speech had been prosecuted as a war crime. On 3 December 2003, Ferdinand Nahimana was sentenced to life imprisonment, guilty of

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agre ...

to commit genocide,

incitement In criminal law, incitement is the encouragement of another person to commit a crime. Depending on the jurisdiction, some or all types of incitement may be illegal. Where illegal, it is known as an inchoate offense, where harm is intended but ...

, directly and publicly, to commit genocide, complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity. Hassan Ngeze also got a life sentence, and Jean Bosco Barayagwiza was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Despite the sentences' possible impact on freedom of the press, Reporters Without Borders welcomed the outcome of the trial. Nahimana, founder of the Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) was convicted for his responsibility as a senior ranking official on the radio starting 6 April 1994, date on which he no longer exerted any role, according to his French lawyer Jean-Marie Biju-Duval. The Rwandan historian was convicted for having done nothing to stop the inflammatory content of the RTLM radio programmes after 6 April 1994, as he had, according to the judgment, an authority on the personnel of the radio station. Ferdinand Nahimana

appealed In law, an appeal is the process in which cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of clarifying and ...

his conviction, and the trial before the Appeals Chamber opened on 16 January 2007. On 28 November 2007, the Appeals Chamber reduced his prison term to 30 years. The Appeals Chamber overturned some of his convictions, notably those which concerned events that had taken place before 1994. The Appeals Chamber also overturned the initial conclusion that there had been an agreement between the RTLM, the CDR, and Kangura to assist in committing genocide. It therefore reversed the charges against Nahimana under Article 6 (1) of the Stature, but upheld those under Article 6(3)—namely, those of "inciting directly and publicly to the commission of genocide and for persecution as a crime against humanity" by means of the RTLM broadcasts after 6 April 1994. According to JusticeInfo.net: In December 2008, he has been transferred from Arusha of

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...

. In 2016, he was released.

Controversy over conviction

A 2010 book written by journalist and historian Hervé Deguine argues that the motives invoked in Nahimana's trial were based on very little evidence except that he founded and was one of the owners of the radio station, exposing arguments and circumstantial evidence against his conviction. Although Deguine had himself contributed to Nahimana's conviction, he concludes his book by affirming that on the basis of judicial proofs, Nahimana should be released.

Bibliography

* 2007: ''Rwanda: les virages ratés'', Éditions Sources du Nil, France. * 1995: ''Rwanda. L’élite Hutu accusée'', Cameroon. * 1993: ''Le Rwanda: émergence d'un État'', Harmattan, Paris. * 1988: ''Conscience chez nous, confiance en nous. Notre culture est la base de notre développement harmonieux'', I.N.R, Rwanda. * 1987: ''Le Blanc est arrivé, le Roi est parti. Une facette de l'histoire du Rwanda contemporain, 1884–1931'', Rwanda.

References

External links

Official website of Ferdinand Nahimana

News reports from the trial, from Fondation Hirondelle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nahimana, Ferdinand 1950 births Living people People from Northern Province, Rwanda Hutu people National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development politicians Coalition for the Defence of the Republic politicians People convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda Rwandan people convicted of genocide Rwandan people convicted of crimes against humanity Rwandan people imprisoned abroad Prisoners and detainees of Mali People extradited from Cameroon Université Laval alumni People convicted of incitement to genocide