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15.08.2009
[NDLR: Stanislas Mbanenande is believed to be the best friend of the Late Seth Sendashonga, former Home minister in the Government of F. Twagiramungu. He got assassinated in Nairobi-Kenya by the RPF death squad beginning May 1998. Stanis Mbanenande may know and keep in secret much about RPF crimes. S. Mbanenande is also believed to be from a Hutu-Tutsi family.
The Rwandan Gacaca Courts are far from the success story that many believe them to be. There is grave legitimate concern about the form and function of the current Gacaca Court system. The Gacaca Courts are a mirror of the Rwandan judicial system in crisis: within 15 minutes, the accused Hutu is sentenced to life-imprisonment].
The New Times
BY SAM NKURUNZIZA
WESTERN REGION
KARONGI – A Gacaca court in Karongi district Thursday handed a life sentence in absentia to a Holland-based UN employee for his role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Stanislas Mbanenande was convicted on four counts related to Genocide, which earned him the highest sentence in the Rwandan legal books. The presiding judge found Mbanenande guilty of leading a militia gang that massacred people in Bisesero and Ruhiro, illegal possession of a firearm and personally taking part in the killings.
“Life sentence became the heaviest punishment replacing the death penalty and Mbanenande deserves it because of the magnitude of the crimes he committed,” said the judge. In a related development, a similar court in Ruhengeri, Musanze district yesterday acquitted the former Mayor of Karongi district who was arrested early this year on Genocide charges.
Jean Baptiste Hakizimana had also earlier been jailed for allegedly defrauding the district of over Rwf100, 000 which he was ordered to repay. Hakizimana, who used to work as a journalist with the national radio before and during the Genocide, was in charge of Economic Affairs at the district and had been accused of using the media to incite the Genocide but court found him innocent.
The Truth can be buried and stomped into the ground where none can see, yet eventually it will, like a seed, break through the surface once again far more potent than ever, and Nothing can stop it. Truth can be suppressed for a “time”, yet It cannot be destroyed. ==> Wolverine
