## Facts

- In 1994 Rwanda, an internal armed conflict existed between the Hutu-led government forces (including the Rwandan Armed Forces) and the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF).
- After the Rwandan President’s plane was shot down, violence escalated and Tutsi civilians were targeted by Hutu civilians and militia groups.
- In Kibuye (also written “Kibuyu” in some summaries), large numbers of Tutsi men, women, and children gathered at several sites in the region—two churches and a stadium among them—seeking refuge.
- At the time the Tutsi civilians congregated at these locations, neither the Rwandan Armed Forces nor the RPF was officially present in the immediate area.
- Clément Kayishema was the Prefect (senior civilian authority) of Kibuye and exercised influence over local administration and security-related actors.
- The Prosecution’s case was that Kayishema mobilized and encouraged Hutu civilians in Kibuye, asserting that killing Tutsis was necessary to defend the country from attack.
- Obed Ruzindana, a civilian trader in the region, was alleged to have joined Kayishema and others in organizing and carrying out attacks on the gathered Tutsi civilians.
- Eyewitness testimony described mass killings at the refuge sites, with attackers frequently torturing victims or killing them in deliberately painful ways, including children.
- The ICTR Prosecutor charged Kayishema and Ruzindana with genocide and related international crimes, including serious violations of Common Article 3 and Additional Protocol II (war crimes).
- A central defense argument targeted the war-crimes counts: war crimes require a close connection (“nexus”) to the armed conflict, and the Kibuye massacres were said to be local anti-Tutsi violence not directly linked to hostilities between government forces and the RPF.
- The Trial Chamber assessed the charged events, the credibility and corroboration of witnesses, and defense objections concerning notice and fairness.

## Issues

1. Whether the Prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the massacres of Tutsi civilians in Kibuye were committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Tutsi group as such (genocide).
2. Whether Kayishema and Ruzindana were individually responsible for genocide based on their roles in leading, organizing, or participating in the attacks.
3. Whether the Prosecution proved the required nexus between the armed conflict and the charged acts so as to sustain convictions for serious violations of Common Article 3 and Additional Protocol II (war crimes).
4. Whether any alleged defects in notice, evidentiary presentation, or trial balance required rejecting the Prosecution’s case.

## Decision

- The Trial Chamber found that genocide occurred in Rwanda in 1994 and that the Tutsi constituted a protected group for purposes of the Genocide Convention and the ICTR Statute.
- The Chamber convicted Clément Kayishema on four counts of genocide and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
- The Chamber convicted Obed Ruzindana on one count of genocide (based on his participation in genocidal violence in the Kibuye region, as charged) and sentenced him to 25 years’ imprisonment.
- The Chamber acquitted both accused of the remaining counts, including crimes against humanity and war-crimes counts under Common Article 3 and Additional Protocol II.
- On the war-crimes allegations, the Chamber accepted that war crimes require a close link between the criminal acts and the armed conflict and concluded that the Prosecution did not establish that link on the evidence for these events, resulting in acquittals on those counts.
- The Chamber rejected defense complaints that would have barred conviction based on lack of notice or unfairness, concluding that the proceedings provided adequate opportunity to contest the evidence.

## Legal Principles

- Genocide requires proof of a prohibited act (such as killing members of the group) committed against a protected group, coupled with the specific intent to destroy the group, in whole or in part; intent may be inferred from the scale of violence, the method of attack, and patterns showing victims were targeted because of group membership.
- A protected group for genocide may be identified by stable social identification in the relevant society; the Tutsi were treated as a protected group under the ICTR Statute.
- Individual criminal responsibility for genocide may be established where an accused leads, orders, instigates, or otherwise takes part in attacks that implement the genocidal intent.
- War crimes under Common Article 3 and Additional Protocol II require a close nexus between the armed conflict and the charged conduct; local violence not proven to be sufficiently connected to the conflict will not sustain conviction under these provisions.
- Trial Chambers may rely on eyewitness testimony while assessing reliability through consistency, corroboration, and the totality of the record, and may reject claims of unfairness where the accused had adequate notice and opportunity to respond.

## Conclusion

In *Prosecutor v. Clément Kayishema & Obed Ruzindana* (ICTR-95-1-T), the ICTR Trial Chamber convicted Kibuye’s Prefect and a local civilian trader of genocide for leading and participating in mass killings of Tutsi civilians who had gathered at churches and a stadium for refuge, while acquitting both of war-crimes and other charges because the Prosecution did not prove the required connection between the massacres and the armed conflict, and imposing life imprisonment on Kayishema and 25 years on Ruzindana.


Prosecutor v. Clément Kayishema & Obed Ruzindana, Case No. ICTR-95-1-T (1999)