Froduald Karamira (14 August 1947 – 24 April 1998) was a

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

n politician who was found guilty of crimes in organising the implementation of the 1994

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 Hutu ...

. He was sentenced to death by a Rwandan court and was one of the last 22 individuals

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

by Rwanda.

Political career

Karamira was born in Mushubati, Gitamara, Rwanda into a

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 grou ...

family. As an adult, Karamira was accepted as a

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 prin ...

by following certain Rwandan traditions that allow "conversions" from one group to the other. Karamira became Second Vice President of the MDR party and was a leader in the extremist wing of the party, nicknamed "

Hutu Power Hutu Power is a racial and ethnosupremacist ideology that asserts the ethnic superiority of Hutu, often in the context of being superior to Tutsi and Twa, and that therefore they are entitled to dominate and murder these two groups and other mino ...

". After the murder of Burundian president

Melchior Ndadaye Melchior Ndadaye (28 March 1953 – 21 October 1993) was a Burundian intellectual and politician. He was the first democratically elected and first Hutu president of Burundi after winning the landmark 1993 Burundi presidential election, 1993 elect ...

on 21 October 1993, Karamira gave a public speech during which he coined the concept of "Hutu Power". He called on Hutus "to rise ndtake the necessary measures", and to "look within ourselves for the enemy which is amongst us"."Froduald Karamira"
, TRIAL International, accessed 5 December 2017.

Rwandan genocide

On 8 April 1994, after the

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

of Hutu

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

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 ...

when his plane was shot down, Karamira participated in the creation of the

interim government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, or a transitional government, is an emergency governmental authority set up to manage a political transition generally in the cases of a newly formed state or f ...

. During the genocide, Karamira gave daily speeches that were broadcast on the Mille Collines radio station. After the Tutsi

Rwandan Patriotic Front The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF–Inkotanyi, french: Front patriotique rwandais, FPR) is the ruling political party in Rwanda. Led by President Paul Kagame, the party has governed the country since its armed wing defeated government forces, winn ...

defeated the government in July 1994 and the genocide ended, Karamira disappeared from Rwanda. He was indicted by the government of Rwanda for

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 Latin ...

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

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 agree ...

, and non-assistance to people in danger.

Extradition standoff

In June 1996, Karamira was arrested by

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n officials in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

and was

extradited Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdict ...

to Rwanda. However, Karamira managed to escape from his guards in the airport of

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

, but was recaptured several days later. This was brought to the attention of

Richard Goldstone Richard Joseph Goldstone (born 26 October 1938) is a South African former judge. After working for 17 years as a commercial lawyer, he was appointed by the South African government to serve on the Transvaal Supreme Court from 1980 to 1989 and t ...

, the chief prosecutor for the

ICTR 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 ...

, who requested the

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n authorities to send Karamira to the ICTR in

Arusha Arusha City is a Tanzanian city and the regional capital of the Arusha Region, with a population of 416,442 plus 323,198 in the surrounding Arusha District Council (2012 census). Located below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern bran ...

instead. Although Ethiopia was obligated to comply with Goldstone under international law, Goldstone gave in after Rwanda threatened to suspend all cooperation with the ICTR.

Trial, and execution

His trial began on 13 January 1997 in

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali has been Rwa ...

. In addition to his daily speeches that incited genocide, it was claimed that he was instrumental in creating and arming 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 ...

militias; he was also accused of being personally responsible for the killing of hundreds of Tutsis, including 13 members of his own family. On 14 February 1997, Karamira was convicted on all counts and sentenced to death by firing squad. He appealed to the Kigali Appeals Court, but the appeal was rejected and his sentence confirmed on 12 September 1997. On 24 April 1998, in a public event at the Nyamirambo Stadium in Kigali, Karamira and several others were executed by

firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...

for their involvement in the Rwandan genocide. A total of 22 genocide convicts were executed in different locations across the country. Rwanda abolished capital punishment in 2007. The 22 people who were executed in 1998, including Karamira, were the last to have been executed in Rwanda."Rwanda is the first African country in the Great Lakes region to abolish the death penalty"
, 2008-01-01, handsoffcain.info, accessed 2008-08-22.

Notes

References

*Linda Melvern (2004). ''Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwandan Genocide'' (New York: Verso, )

External links

''Ministère Public c. Karamira''
: trial judgment of Karamira's case ( French)
''Ministère Public c. Karamira''
: appeal judgment of Karamira's case ( French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Karamira, Froduald 1947 births 1998 deaths 20th-century executions by Rwanda Executed politicians Executed Rwandan people People executed for murder Rwandan people convicted of genocide Rwandan politicians Rwandan genocide perpetrators Rwandan people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by Rwanda National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development politicians Hutu people People from Rutsiro District People extradited from India People extradited to Rwanda People executed by Rwanda by firing squad 1990s murders in Rwanda 1994 crimes in Rwanda 1994 murders in Africa People executed for crimes against humanity Executed mass murderers