Convicted Former Justice Minister Ntamabyariro appeals for sentence reduction

Some of the female inmates at the ‘1930’ prison in Kigali

Former Rwandan Minister of Justice, Agnes Ntamabyariro, who was sentenced to life for genocide crimes, has returned to court, five years down the road to appeal seeking a reduction of her sentence.

Ntamabyariro appeared before the Nyarugenge Intermediate Court on Thursday to appeal against a life sentence with special provisions which she was handed in January 2009.

Though she appealed for a reduction of her sentence, the prosecution side contends that the 77-year-old former politician who was found guilty on charges including supplying weapons among others and stated that since the co-accused Hategekimana has been cleared by court, the appeal could not take off until he was found to appear in court

Ntamabyariro case is one of the high ranking genocide cases in Rwanda. She was arrested in Zambia in 1997 and deported to Rwanda and her triall started in 2006. She allegedly took part in the April 8, 1994 meeting presided over by Theoneste Bagosora who is consider the ‘genocide mastermind’.

She was found guilty of genocide crimes in January 2009 while her co-accused Jean Leonard Hategekimana, a former prosecutor in the former southern district of Gitarama now Muhanga, was cleared of charges.

Her appeal hearing resumes April 1, 2014.