## Facts

- Following the 6 April 1994 assassination of Rwanda’s President, widespread violence resumed and targeted Tutsis and moderate Hutus across Rwanda.
- Édouard Karemera, MRND First Vice-President and later Minister of the Interior in the Interim Government, and Matthieu Ngirumpatse, MRND President, were senior political leaders in the ruling party.
- The MRND’s youth militia, the Interahamwe, carried out mass killings and widespread rape and sexual assaults; the accused were found to have supported and relied on this militia.
- The accused were found to have interfered with territorial administration by pressuring local officials to follow anti-Tutsi policies and replacing officials who resisted violence.
- They traveled within government-controlled areas and made public appearances and statements that condoned and encouraged violence against Tutsis.
- Crimes attributed to the accused occurred in multiple locations, including Kigali, Murambi (Gikongoro Prefecture), Butare Prefecture, and Bisesero (Kibuye Prefecture), and through a “civil defense” system that facilitated attacks.
- The trial proceeded against Karemera and Ngirumpatse after proceedings against a co-accused were terminated due to his death during trial.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence proved a joint criminal enterprise to commit genocide and related crimes, and the accused’s participation in that enterprise.
2. Whether the accused could be cumulatively convicted of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, and direct and public incitement to commit genocide based on the charged conduct.
3. Whether the accused exercised sufficient authority and “effective control” over MRND structures, the Interahamwe, and local actors to incur superior responsibility, including for failure to prevent or punish crimes.
4. How judicial notice that genocide occurred in Rwanda in 1994 affected the prosecution’s burden and what elements still required proof as to the accused.

## Decision

- The Trial Chamber convicted Karemera and Ngirumpatse of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, and direct and public incitement to commit genocide.
- The Trial Chamber convicted both accused of crimes against humanity, including extermination and rape.
- The Trial Chamber convicted both accused of the war crime of violence to life (killing) under common Article 3 in the context of a non-international armed conflict.
- The Trial Chamber found liability based on participation in a joint criminal enterprise and, additionally, superior responsibility for crimes committed by subordinates and aligned actors.
- The Trial Chamber sentenced each accused to life imprisonment.

## Legal Principles

- A trial chamber may take judicial notice of the occurrence of genocide in Rwanda in 1994 as a fact of common knowledge, while still requiring proof of the accused’s genocidal intent and participation and of other offense elements tied to the accused.
- Joint criminal enterprise liability attaches where an accused joins an agreement to commit crimes and makes a significant contribution through political, logistical, or moral support that furthers the common plan.
- Superior responsibility requires a showing of effective control, knowledge (or reason to know) of subordinates’ crimes, and failure to take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent or punish.
- Genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, and direct and public incitement to commit genocide may support cumulative convictions when each offense’s distinct elements are independently proved.
- Crimes against humanity (including extermination and rape) may be established through widespread or systematic attacks against a civilian population, with individual responsibility based on the accused’s mode(s) of liability.
- War crimes under common Article 3 apply to serious violence in a non-international armed conflict when the conduct is sufficiently linked to the conflict.

## Conclusion

The Trial Chamber held that senior MRND leaders used party and militia structures to further a nationwide campaign of violence in 1994, establishing liability for genocide-related crimes, crimes against humanity, and war crimes through joint criminal enterprise and superior responsibility, and imposed life sentences on both accused.


Prosecutor v. Karemera (Karemera & Ngirumpatse), Case No. ICTR-98-44-T (Int’l Crim. Trib. for Rwanda Feb. 2, 2012)