Georges Rutaganda

George Anderson Nderubumwe Rutaganda (born 28 November 1958) was convicted of offences before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Before the events of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, Rutaganda worked as an agricultural engineer and was chairman of his own business, which primarily worked with the importing of food and beverages into Rwanda for sale. He was a member of the MRND (Mouvement Républicain National pour le Développement et la Démocratie) and a shareholder in RTLM, which was a radio station. He also served as vice-president of the Interahamwe za MRND, which is alleged to have been a an organization involved in the 1994 mass killings. However, there is some controversy about whether this organization actually existed in April through July, 1994 and some of the Prosecution expert testimony in his trial indicated that the organization had collapsed prior to the 1994 killings.

Rutaganda was arrested in October 1995 in Lusaka, Zambia. He was indicted and charged with eight counts. In December 1999, he was found guilty of three of the counts -- genocide, crimes against humanity: extermination, and crimes against humanity: murder -- and was sentenced to life in prison. Most of the evidence against him was based on contradictory eyewitness accounts. On appeal, the last of these convictions was dropped due to irreconcilable disparities in witness statements, but the sentence was upheld. [http://www.trial-ch.org/trialwatch/profiles/en/spotlight/p202.html]

The assassination of President Juvénal Habyarimana triggered the mass killings in Rwanda in 1994. A team of Prosecution investigators for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and French Judge Bruguiere concluded that the top leadership of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (which had invaded Rwanda together with Rwandan forces in 1990, driving one million from their homes) had ordered and carried out the assassination. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 2008 expressed concern over reports that the current Rwandan government intimidated and killed witnesses and used the charge of "genocidal ideology" to target opponents. Mr. Rutaganda is the only leader of the Interahamwe za MRND to be indicted before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Georges Rutaganda is portrayed by Hakeem Kae-Kazim in the 2004 film "Hotel Rwanda". The film does not reflect the court record.