OWN CORRESPONDENT, Arusha | Monday 10.30PM.
FORMER Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda has appealed against his life sentence for crimes against humanity handed down by the war crimes tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha on Friday.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda registry in Arusha confirmed that the appeal was filed on Monday morning. Kambanda’s legal defence, Michael Oliver Ingliss, also confirmed the appeal, explaining that “the sentence is excessive… It did not take into consideration the guilty plea by my client.” According to the Cameroonian attorney, Kambanda, 42, should get a lesser sentence for his co-operation with the prosecution.
Kambanda was interim prime minister in Rwanda between April 8 and mid-July, 1994, during which 800000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred.
On May 1 he pleaded guilty to genocide and crimes against humanity, a plea which, according to the Tribunal rules, automatically dispenses with the need to hear evidence in trial.
Deputy prosecutor Bernard Muna, who handled Kambanda’s case, told reporters that Kambanda’s right of appeal is not linked to his co-operation with the prosecution. “Kambanda is expected to be a key witness in the upcoming trials of former military and political officials accused of genocide atrocities committed under his government,” Muna said.
Muna described the sentence as fair but “very tough” and acknowledged that it could dissuade other defendants from admitting to their crimes.
Some observers have questioned whether the former premier will agree to continue to co-operate with investigators considering the sentence.
Kambanda is the first person to be convicted of genocide in an international court since the 1948 Geneva Convention, signed in the wake of World War II.