The convictions of Adventist pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana and his son Dr. Gérard Ntakirutimana were upheld on December 13 by the Appeals Chamber of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The prison sentence of ten years given to Pastor Ntakirutimana, now eighty years old, has been confirmed (with credit for his seven years served). Dr. Gérard’s sentence of twenty-five years has also been confirmed (with credit for his eight years served), despite the prosecution’s request that his sentence be upped to life and the pastor’s sentence be increased to twenty years.

"Given the way this tribunal has judged things in the past, [the result] is a disappointment but not a surprise," said David Jacobs, defense lawyer for Dr. Gérard Ntakirutimana. "We will continue to fight to demonstrate that [the accused] are innocent of these charges and have been politically framed, that the judgments of both the Appeals and Trial Chambers are examples of injustice."

The pastor and Dr. Gérard appealed all of the factual findings against them and also alleged a number of legal errors. In its 193-page judgment, however, the Appeals Chamber—consisting of five judges from five different countries—upheld most of the Trial Chamber’s decisions.

There was one significant departure from the original judgment. The Appeals Chamber overturned Pastor Ntakirutimana’s conviction for aiding and abetting genocide in Mugonero, where the Sabbath slaughter took place on April 16, 1994.

The prosecution charged, and the Trial Chamber then found, that the pastor "conveyed attackers to the Mugonero complex on the morning of 16 April 1994." However, this charge was not part of the prosecution’s official indictment. Since this charge was not pleaded properly, the Appeals Chamber found that it could not be used against the pastor. In effect, they threw out the whole Mugonero indictment against Pastor Ntakirutimana on a legal technicality.

"The core charges against the pastor were dismissed," Jacobs said. "Frankly, this shows the injustice of the verdict. There was a failure of the prosecution to give the defense notice of the charges. It was not a fair trial."

The Appeals Chamber also quashed several other convictions made in the original trial, but they still found the pastor guilty in relation to four separate genocidal events, such as transporting armed attackers. "The Trial Chamber’s finding that Elizaphan Ntakirutimana had the requisite intent to commit genocide is undisturbed despite the quashing of a number of convictions," the Appeals Chamber said in its judgment. "In the view of the Appeals Chamber, the remaining convictions against Elizaphan Ntakirutimana are of a serious nature."

Several of the convictions against Dr. Gérard were also thrown out, mainly due to errors committed by the Trial Chamber at the original trial. Other convictions were upheld. Dr. Gérard remains convicted of genocide, and aiding and abetting extermination as a crime against humanity.

"I am somewhat disappointed that their sentences were not increased on appeal as we had requested," said Charles Adeogun-Phillips, lead prosecutor at the original trial. "But this is certainly the end of the line for the Ntakirutimanas and they will be whisked off to serve their sentences in one of the countries that have signed agreements with the Tribunal, hopefully on the continent of Africa."

Pastor Ntakirutimana was the first clergyperson to be tried in an international tribunal. A Catholic priest is currently on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Tanzania and two other clergy are awaiting trial. The Tribunal has thus far handed down seventeen judgments.

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