Jean-Paul Akayesu (born 1953 in Taba) is a former

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

, school inspector, and

Republican Democratic Movement The Republican Democratic Movement (french: Mouvement démocratique républicain, MDR) was a political party in Rwanda. History The party was established in 1991,

(MDR)

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

from

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 ...

, convicted 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 Latin ...

for his role in inciting 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 Hutu ...

Life

Akayesu was the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Taba commune Taba was a commune located in the historic Gitarama Prefecture of Rwanda. During the Rwandan genocide in 1994 massacres and atrocities were committed in Taba. The Hutu Interahamwe militia murdered hundreds of Tutsi and Tutsi women were raped in go ...

Gitarama prefecture Gitarama was one of the former twelve provinces (''intara'') of Rwanda and was situated in the centre of the country, to the west of the capital Kigali. Gitarama Prefecture was created in 1959, increasing the number of prefectures of Rwanda from ...

from April 1993 until June 1994. As mayor, he was responsible for performing executive functions and maintaining order in Taba, meaning he had command of the communal police and any gendarmes assigned to the commune. He was subject only to the

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

. He was considered well-liked and intelligent. During the

of mid-1994, many

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 ...

s were killed in Akayesu's commune, and many others were subject to violence and other forms of hatred. Akayesu not only refrained from stopping the killings, but personally supervised the murder of various Tutsis. He also gave a death list to other

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 ...

s, and ordered house-to-house searches to locate Tutsis.

Trial

Akayesu was arrested in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

in October 1995, making Zambia the first African nation to extradite criminals to 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 ...

(ICTR). In 1996,

Godeliève Mukasarasi Godeliève Mukasarasi (born 1959) is a Rwandan social worker, genocide survivor, and rural development activist. She created the organization Sevota to support widowed women and their children after the genocide. In 2018 she was given an Internati ...

was contacted by the United Nations to assist in putting together a case against him. Mukasarasi was intimidated and her husband and daughter were killed but she found four people who were willing to testify. She was given an

International Women of Courage Award The International Women of Courage Award, also referred to as the U.S. Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award, is an American award presented annually by the United States Department of State to women around the world who have ...

in 2018 for this and other work. He stood trial for 15 counts of

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

, including

rape during the Rwandan genocide Violence during the Rwandan genocide of 1994 took a gender-specific form when, over the course of 100 days, up to half a million women and children were raped, sexually mutilated, or murdered. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR ...

and violations of the

Geneva Convention upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conven ...

Pierre-Richard Prosper Pierre-Richard Prosper (born September 19, 1963) is an American lawyer, prosecutor and former government official. He served as the second United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. ...

was the lead prosecutor. Akayesu's defence team argued that Akayesu had no part in the killings, and that he had been powerless to stop them. In short, the defence argued, Akayesu was being made a scapegoat for the crimes of the people of Taba. Despite this defence, the ICTR found him guilty of 9 counts of genocide, numerous crimes against humanity and direct and public incitement to commit genocide; however, he was found not guilty for the counts of

complicity in genocide Complicity in genocide is illegal under international law both for individuals, as part of international criminal law, and state parties to the Genocide Convention. The latter was first held in the Bosnian genocide case (2007) in which the Internati ...

, Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions (war crime), and Article 4(2)(e) of Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions. This was notable in that it was the first time that the 1948

Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition. It was ...

was enforced and in doing so clearly differentiated the mental element of the crime Genocide from the mental element in the breaches of the Geneva Conventions. The court clarified that Genocide is a crime of specific intent that takes the accused outside of the scope of armed conflict. On October 2, 1998, Akayesu was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was represented by

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

lawyer John Philpot, brother of

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (; ; PQ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishin ...

politician and author

Robin Philpot Robin Philpot (born 1948) is a Quebec journalist and 2007 electoral candidate for the Parti Québécois. Background Originally from Thunder Bay, Ontario, where his father Roderick Philpot was an alderman of the city of Fort William, Philpot is ...

; this connection later surfaced in the

2007 Quebec general election The 2007 Quebec general election was held in the Canadian province of Quebec on March 26, 2007 to elect members of the 38th National Assembly of Quebec. The Quebec Liberal Party led by Premier Jean Charest managed to win a plurality of seats, but ...

after statements from Robin Philpot's book ''Rwanda 1994: Colonialism Dies Hard'' appearing to deny the extent of the genocide were widely publicized. Here is the relevant section of the September 1999

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

report: Fourth Annual Report of the

to the General Assembly (September 1999) ''"Report of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Genocide and Other Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of Rwanda and Rwandan Citizens Responsible for Genocide and Other Such Violations Committed in the Territory of Neighbouring States between 1 January and 31 December 1994":''

''The Prosecutor v. Jean Paul Akayesu (ICTR-96-4-T)''

''14. On 2 September 1998, Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, composed of Judges Laïty Kama, Presiding, Lennart Aspegren and
Navanethem Pillay Navanethem "Navi" Pillay (born 23 September 1941) is a South African jurist who served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014. A South African of Indian Tamil origin, she was the first non-white woman judge o ...
, found Jean Paul Akayesu guilty of 9 of the 15 counts proffered against him, including
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 ...
, direct and public incitement to commit genocide and
crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
(
extermination Extermination or exterminate may refer to: * Pest control, elimination of insects or vermin * Genocide, extermination—in whole or in part—of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group * Homicide or murder in general * "Exterminate!", t ...
,
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 ...
,
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...
,
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...
and other inhumane acts). Jean Paul Akayesu was found not guilty of the six remaining counts, including the count of complicity in genocide and the counts relating to violations of article 3 common to the
Geneva Conventions upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conven ...
and of Additional Protocol II thereto.''

''15. The Akayesu judgement includes the first interpretation and application by an international court of the 1948
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition. It was ...
.''

''16. The Trial Chamber held that rape, which it defined as "a physical invasion of a sexual nature committed on a person under circumstances which are coercive", and sexual assault constitute acts of genocide insofar as they were committed with the
intent to destroy ''Intent to Destroy: Death, Denial, & Depiction'' is a 2017 documentary film directed by Joe Berlinger about the Armenian genocide. Production Berlinger embedded in the filming crew of '' The Promise'' to shoot ''Intent to Destroy''. The film p ...
, in whole or in part, a targeted group, as such. It found that sexual assault formed an integral part of the process of destroying the
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 ...
ethnic group and that the rape was systematic and had been perpetrated against Tutsi women only, manifesting the specific intent required for those acts to constitute genocide.''

''17. On 2 September 1998, Jean Paul Akayesu was sentenced to
life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
for each of the nine counts, the sentences to run concurrently.''

''18. Both Jean Paul Akayesu and the Prosecutor have appealed against the judgement rendered by the Trial Chamber.''

Akayesu was first transferred to Mali on 9 December 2001 to serve out his sentence, before later being transferred to

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

on 19 December 2020. The trial is the subject of the 2015 documentary film, ''

The Uncondemned ''The Uncondemned'' is a 2015 documentary film produced by Film at Eleven Media. Co-directed by Michele Mitchell and Nick Louvel, the film examines the first trial that prosecuted rape as a war crime and an act of genocide. Rape was declared a w ...

''.

References

External links

ICTR case documents for Jean Paul Akayesu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Akayesu, Jean 1953 births Living people Hutu people Republican Democratic Movement 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 Rwandan prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by international courts and tribunals People extradited from Zambia Mayors of places in Rwanda Rwandan educators People convicted of incitement to genocide