Valérie Bemeriki (born 1955) is a

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

n convicted

war criminal A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

and radio entertainer. Bemeriki was one of the main ''animatrices''''http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/6922 '' of

Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) (), nicknamed "Radio Genocide" or "Hutu Power Radio", 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, ...

(RTLM), which played a significant role in promoting the

genocide against the Tutsi The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...

Early life

Although born in

Rutshuru Rutshuru is a town located in the North Kivu province of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, and is headquarters of an administrative district, the Rutshuru Territory. The town lies in the western branch of the Albertine Rift between L ...

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

(then

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

), Bemeriki's hometown is Giciye commune,

Gisenyi Gisenyi, historically rendered as Kisenyi, is the second largest city in Rwanda, located in the Rubavu district in Rwanda's Western Province. Gisenyi is contiguous with Goma as it was formerly also part of now Democratic Republic of the Congo, t ...

préfecture, in

. Prior to working at RTLM, Bemeriki worked for the ruling

MRND The National Revolutionary Movement for Development (, MRND) was the ruling political party of Rwanda from 1975 to 1994 under President Juvénal Habyarimana, running with first Vice President Édouard Karemera. From 1978 to 1991, the MRND was the ...

party as a propagandist, also writing for 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 (M ...

's (MRND's youth wing) publication.

Role in genocide

On April 8, 1994, two days after the

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

of Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana, Bemeriki ironically noted on air that opposition members of the previous government "could not be found", while several, such as

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Agathe Uwilingiyimana Agathe Uwilingiyimana (; 23 May 1953 – 7 April 1994), sometimes known as Madame Agathe, was a Rwandan political figure. She served as Prime Minister of Rwanda from 18 July 1993 until her assassination on 7 April 1994, during the opening stages ...

had already been murdered. Based on an encounter at an interview at the offices of RTLM,

Roméo Dallaire Roméo Antonius Dallaire (born June 25, 1946) is a retired Canadian politician and military officer who was a senator from Quebec from 2005 to 2014, and a lieutenant-general in the Canadian Armed Forces. He notably was the force commander of U ...

, the Force Commander of

UNAMIR The United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 872 on 5 October 1993. It was intended to assist in the implementation of the Arusha Accords, signed on 4 August 1993, w ...

, has described Bemeriki as "very aggressive". On June 28, 1994, over a month after the interview, Bemeriki stated on-air that "Dallaire is the basis of this war". During the genocide, Bemeriki frequently read out names and addresses of

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

s alleged to be " RPF accomplices", which led to their murder by

Hutu Power Hutu Power, or Hutu Supremacy, is an ethnic supremacist ideology that asserts the ethnic superiority of Hutu, often in the context of being superior to Tutsi and Twa, and therefore, they are entitled to dominate and murder these two groups an ...

paramilitaries such as the

Impuzamugambi The Impuzamugambi (, ''"those with the same goal"'') was a Hutu militia in Rwanda formed in 1992. Together with the Interahamwe militia, which formed earlier and had more members, the Impuzamugambi was responsible for many of the deaths of Tutsis ...

and

. Bemeriki was noted for presenting RTML's genocidal rhetoric through a colloquial type of tongue-in-cheek humor. Bemeriki was an advocate of

machete A machete (; ) is a broad blade used either as an agricultural implement similar to an axe, or in combat like a long-bladed knife. The blade is typically long and usually under thick. In the Spanish language, the word is possibly a dimin ...

s as a murder weapon, and instructed viewers to "not kill those cockroaches with a bullet — cut them to pieces with a machete”. Bemeriki was one of the few major women who played a major role in the genocide, along with former Minister for Family Welfare and the Advancement of Women

Pauline Nyiramasuhuko Pauline Nyiramasuhuko (born 1 April 1946) is a Rwandan politician who was the Minister for Family Welfare and the Advancement of Women. She was convicted of having incited troops and militia to carry out rape during the Rwandan genocide of ...

and former Minister of Justice Agnès Ntamabyaliro Rutagwera. After Kantano Habimana, Bemeriki was the announcer with the second most airtime, approximately 17% of all RTLM broadcasts. Following the genocide, Bemeriki was named as one its 2,133 "planners, organizers, instigators, supervisors and leaders" in accordance with the ''Genocide Law of the Republic of Rwanda (1996)''.

Later life and imprisonment

Bemeriki fled Kigali for her native

Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...

in July 1994 and was arrested in

Minova Minova is a town in the Kalehe Territory, South Kivu Province, DRC. It is an important business center for farm-fishery products. It is very close to Idjwi Island, Masisi Territory, Lake Kivu on its North Western shore, and is only 45 km from ...

, near

Bukavu Bukavu is a city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), lying at the extreme south-western edge of Lake Kivu, west of Cyangugu in Rwanda, and separated from it by the outlet of the Ruzizi River. It is the capital of the South Kivu P ...

in the (by then renamed)

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

on 13 June 1999 by the Rwandan military. She was convicted of and pleaded guilty to planning genocide, inciting violence and complicity in several murders and sentenced to life imprisonment by a

Gacaca court The Gacaca courts () were a system of transitional justice in Rwanda following the 1994 genocide. The term 'gacaca' can be translated as 'short grass' referring to the public space where neighborhood male elders (abagabo) used to meet to solve lo ...

in 2009. Bemeriki has acknowledged her role in the genocide and begged for forgiveness, but has claimed that she was merely acting under the pressure from her employer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bemeriki, Valerie Living people 1955 births Female war criminals People from North Kivu Rwandan propagandists Rwandan people convicted of genocide Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Rwanda Rwandan radio presenters Rwandan women radio presenters Radio controversies Rwandan prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment