## Facts

- Jean-Paul Akayesu served as bourgmestre (mayor) of Taba commune, Rwanda (Apr. 1993–June 1994), exercising effective authority over communal police and local security.
- During the 1994 genocide, Tutsi civilians in Taba were subjected to killings, beatings, and sexual violence, including at or near the communal office (*bureau communal*).
- Witnesses described public and gang rapes and other sexual assaults directed at Tutsi women and girls, occurring in the presence of Akayesu or in circumstances he tolerated or encouraged.
- Evidence showed Akayesu made public statements that encouraged or legitimized attacks on Tutsi and helped mobilize local participation.
- The prosecution charged Akayesu with genocide-related offenses, crimes against humanity (including rape), and serious violations of common Article 3 and Additional Protocol II; the indictment was amended to add counts focused on sexual violence.
- The Trial Chamber found Akayesu guilty of genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, and several crimes against humanity, and acquitted him of complicity in genocide and all war-crimes counts.

## Issues

1. What elements must be proved for genocide, including the definition of a protected group and the requirement of specific intent to destroy the group in whole or in part?
2. Whether rape and other sexual violence can constitute acts of genocide and/or crimes against humanity, and how rape should be defined for these purposes.
3. Whether the violence in Taba formed part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population on discriminatory grounds sufficient for crimes against humanity.
4. Whether the charged conduct qualified as serious violations of common Article 3 and Additional Protocol II, including whether the accused was within the class of perpetrators and whether a nexus to the armed conflict was established.
5. How individual criminal responsibility and superior responsibility apply to a civilian local official with de jure and de facto authority, including liability for omissions (failure to prevent or punish).

## Decision

- The Trial Chamber convicted Akayesu of genocide under Article 2 of the ICTR Statute for killings and causing serious bodily or mental harm to Tutsi, committed with genocidal intent.
- The Trial Chamber convicted Akayesu of direct and public incitement to commit genocide, treating incitement as complete upon direct and public encouragement, regardless of causal success.
- The Trial Chamber convicted Akayesu of crimes against humanity, including extermination, murder, torture, rape, and other inhumane acts, based on his participation, encouragement, and tolerance of attacks in Taba.
- The Trial Chamber acquitted Akayesu of complicity in genocide where the proof established principal responsibility with his own genocidal intent.
- The Trial Chamber acquitted Akayesu of all counts alleging serious violations of common Article 3 and Additional Protocol II for failure to prove the required nexus to armed conflict and failure to show he fell within the contemplated perpetrator class.
- Akayesu received a life sentence, later affirmed on appeal.

## Legal Principles

- Genocide requires: (1) commission of an enumerated genocidal act; (2) targeting of a protected national, ethnical, racial, or religious group; and (3) special intent to destroy the group, in whole or in part, as such; intent may be inferred from context, scale, and systematic targeting.
- A protected group may be identified by stable and recognized characteristics in the relevant social and historical context; targeted destruction of that group can be shown through widespread discriminatory violence.
- Rape is defined as a physical invasion of a sexual nature committed under coercive circumstances; sexual violence includes other coerced acts of a sexual nature and can be proved through coercive environment and abuse of power, not only physical force.
- Rape and sexual violence can constitute genocide when committed with genocidal intent, including by causing serious bodily or mental harm and by contributing to the destruction of the targeted group.
- Crimes against humanity require prohibited acts committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population on discriminatory grounds; a formal plan or policy is not required, but the acts must be part of a broader course of conduct.
- Superior responsibility applies to civilian superiors who exercise effective control over perpetrators when they knew or had reason to know of crimes and failed to take reasonable measures to prevent or punish.
- War-crimes liability under common Article 3 and Additional Protocol II requires an adequate nexus to the armed conflict and, as applied here, proof that the accused fit the contemplated perpetrator category connected to the conflict.

## Conclusion

The ICTR held Akayesu criminally responsible as a local civilian authority for genocide, direct and public incitement, and crimes against humanity arising from coordinated violence against Tutsi in Taba, and it established that rape and other sexual violence may constitute both crimes against humanity and acts of genocide when committed with the requisite genocidal intent.


Prosecutor v. Akayesu, Case No. ICTR-96-4-T (Int’l Crim. Trib. for Rwanda Sept. 2, 1998)