/ 1 June 2000

WANDA ‘HATE-RADIO’ BROADCASTER GETS 12 YEARS

THE International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on Thursday sentenced former radio presenter Georges Ruggiu to 12 years in prison, after he pleaded guilty to inciting genocide. Ruggiu, a Rwandan of Italian and Belgian descent, worked for the Hutu extremist radio station Mille Collines, which incited Hutus to kill minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The 1994 genocide left up to 800000 people dead. Ruggiu was given two 12-year sentences for crimes relating to direct and public incitement to genocide, and persecution as a crime against humanity. He pleaded guilty to both. But the court said the two sentences should be served concurrently, and that Ruggiu’s time in preventive detention awaiting trial should be taken into account.