Jean Kambanda (born October 19, 1955) was the prime minister in the caretaker government of Rwanda from the start of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. He is the first and only head of government to plead guilty to genocide, in the first group of such convictions since the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide came into effect in 1951. October 19 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1955 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... List of the Heads of Government of Rwanda See Also: List of incumbents, List of Presidents of Rwanda, List of Kings of Rwanda. ... A caretaker is a term mainly used in the United Kingdom, meaning a concierge or janitor. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... The skulls of victims show gashes and signs of violence The Rwandan Genocide was the organized murder of up to one million Rwandans in 1994. ... The head of government is the leader of the government or cabinet. ... The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 1948 and came into effect in January 1951. ... 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ...

Kambanda holds a degree in commercial engineering and began his career as a low-level United Popular BPR banker, rising as a technocrat to become the chair of the bank. At the time of the April 1994 crisis he was vice president of the Butare section of the opposition Democratic Republican Movement (MDR). A degree is any of a wide range of awards made by institutions of higher education, such as universities, normally as the result of successfully completing a program of study. ... This article pertains to a technocracy as a bureaucratic structure. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... Butare is one of the twelve provinces of Rwanda. ...

He was sworn in as prime minister on April 9, 1994, two days after the President and former prime minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana was assassinated. The opposition MDR had been promised the prime ministerial post in the transitional government established by the Arusha accords, but Kambanda leapfrogged several levels in the party's hierarchy to take the job from the initial choice, Faustin Twagiramungu. He remained in the post for the hundred days of the genocide until July 19, 1994. During the massacre, Kambanda broadcast incitements to violence over the radio, such as: "genocide is justified in the fight against the enemy." After leaving office he fled the country. April 9 is the 99th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (100th in leap years). ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... Agathe Uwilingiyimana (1953 - 7 April 1994) was a Rwandan political figure. ... The Arusha Accords (also known as the Arusha Peace Agreement, or the Arusha negotiations) were a set of five accords (or protocols) signed by the Rwandese Patriotic Front and the Government of Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania on 4 August 1993, ending the civil war. ... Faustin Twagiramungu (born 1935?) is a Rwandan Hutu political figure. ... July 19 is the 200th day (201st in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 165 days remaining. ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ...

Criminal responsibility

Kambanda was arrested in Nairobi on July 18, 1997, after a seven-week multinational stakeout and transfered to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The court accused him of distributing small arms and ammunition in Butare and Gitarama with the knowledge that they would be used to massacre civilians. He was found guilty after acknowledging that he supported the calls for murder broadcast on Radio Rwanda, and that he distributed weapons to the militias. He confessed that the government organized the genocide in advance (officially, this was to ensure the safety of his wife and two children, although others have blamed the incompetence of his lawyers). Nairobi skyline Nairobi is the capital of Kenya. ... July 18 is the 199th day (200th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 166 days remaining. ... 1997 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is a court under the auspices of the United Nations for the prosecution of offenses committed in Rwanda during the incident of genocide which occurred there during April, 1994, commencing on April 6. ... The term small arms describes any weapon that a person can easily transport and fire. ... Boxes of ammunition clog a warehouse in Baghdad Ammunition is a generic military term meaning (the assembly of) a projectile and its propellant. ... Butare is one of the twelve provinces of Rwanda. ...

On September 4, 1998, the ICTR condemned Jean Kambanda to life imprisonment for: September 4 is the 247th day of the year (248th in leap years). ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...

• Genocide, and Agreement to commit genocide
• Public and direct incitation to commit genocide
• Aiding and abetting genocide
• Failing in his duty to prevent the genocide which occurred while he was prime minister
• Two counts of crimes against humanity

This verdict was upheld by the ICTR House of Appeal on October 19, 2000, and Kambanda is currently jailed in Mali. This article is in need of attention. ... October 19 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Blaming the army

Although Kambanda pled guilty after receiving legal counsel, his lawyer argued that the prime minister was a "puppet" of the military, who had dragged him from his bank, after killing the previous prime minister, to legitimize their control of their country. He asked the ICTR for a sentence of only two years because he acted "under duress with limited responsibility".

The court concluded that this defense against a charge of genocide was irrelevant, but this doesn't mean they accepted the story that he was "dragged from his bank", or that he briefly fled and was only titular head of government. This version of events is not as plausible as it may appear: although Kambanda seemed to be a relatively obscure member of an opposition party on 8 April 1994, commentators have questioned how powerless he really was. (For instance, the 2004 analysis published in the Chicago-Kent Journal of International & Comparative Law notes that Butare is the richest city in Rwanda, so a local politician also head of the largest bank would have significant influence.) April 8 is the 98th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (99th in leap years). ... 1994 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Responsible but not guilty

In his appeal, Kambanda said that his confession had been in error, due to poor or misunderstood counsel. He said that his objective was not to plead guilty but to tell the truth. According to the ICTR appeal:

"Kambanda noted that while he felt politically responsible for what happened, he did not feel guilty at the time and does not feel guilty now."

Legal legacy

As a head of government convicted by an international court, Kambanda is an important figure, with the verdict against him forming a precedent against the legal principle of State Immunity (which was used to reject an extradition order for Pinochet, for example ^{[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Kambanda#endnote_HRW)}). The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) of 1976 is a statute under United States law that sets the limitations on how a foreign sovereign nation (or its agents, instrumentalities, or subdivisions) may be sued in U.S. courts. ... General Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte1 (born November 25, 1915) was head of the military government that ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990. ...

See Also

• Manuel Noriega
• Slobodan Milosovic
• Saddam Hussain

Date of birth February 11, 1938 Place of birth Panama City, Panama Occupation Career soldier Education Military School de Chorrilos Lima, Peru School of the Americas Panama Remarks Allegedly a participant in the military coup détat to overthrow Arnulfo Arias. ... The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ... Saddam Hussein Saddām Hussein ʻAbd al-Majid al-Tikrītī (Often spelt Husayn or Hussain; Arabic صدام حسين عبدالمجيد التكريتي; born April 28, 1937 1) was President of Iraq from 1979 to 2003. ...

External links

• Trial Watch (http://www.trial-ch.org/trialwatch/profiles/en/facts/p159.html) on the case against Jean Kambanda.
• The BBC story on Kambanda's testimony (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3572887.stm) on the organization of the genocide, which forms an important source document for Linda Melvern's book Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwanda Genocide and the International Community (2004) Verso ISBN 1859845886
• The ICTR official transcript (http://157.150.221.3/webdrawer/rec/29134/) of the sentencing phase, including Mr. Jean Kambanda's acknowledgement of his original guilty plea.
• Commentary from the Center for International Human Rights (http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/ihr/display_details.cfm?ID=166&document_type=commentary) on the Kambanda case, concerned that the former prime minister and his fellow accused were 'ordinary men'. Although admitted crimes of action and inaction are cited, the commentary notes that Kambanda and Jean-Paul Akayesu (his fellow accused) were "Pillars of their communities". It concludes:

"Of what are ordinary human beings capable -- be it in Rwanda, Bosnia, Cambodia, El Salvador or elsewhere? Who is capable of genocide? And who is not?"

• The Sacrifice of Jean Kambanda (http://www.kentlaw.edu/jicl/articles/spring2005/s2005_kelly_ranasinghe.pdf) is a detailed account of the Kambanda trial and the politics & jurisprudence of ICTR, written by the California Western School of Law (2004).

The thesis is that Kambanda's conviction was accelerated to bolster confidence and support of the court within Rwanda. The principal charge against the workings of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is that Kambanda's right to counsel was overridden.

Although he was able to select his own choice of lawyer from a screened list, the court's Registrar held the final say. Not only was his attorney chosen by the court that was prosecuting him, the registrar is officially required to select a counsel 'prudently' with regard to their cost, and French and Canadian lawyers were initially excluded from the list (despite these countries supplying the majority of qualified French speakers who have passed the ICTR bar).

Kambanda's decision to defend himself for four months was scarcely recorded in the court's proceedings, and when he opted for counsel, the first act of the counsellor (who is characterized as 'inept') was to sign a confession to the prosecution's case. This analysis concludes that the appeal was strategically flawed, and that the probable reason for the legal "carelessness" was that Kambanda was the face of genocide in Kigali; no more time could be wasted before he was given the court's most severe punishment, without recourse to appeal.

Ultimately, the critique is not on the grounds of justice (Kambanda was certainly guilty), but concern that the court ultimately produced a show trial, since his appeal may not have been thrown out by the U.S. courts.

• The International War Crimes Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) pressroom report on the Kambanda appeal (http://www.internews.org/activities/ICTR_reports/ICTRnewsJune00.html) - in which, among other things, the reasoning of incompetent representation and the credibility of a mistaken confession are rejected.

2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jean-Paul Akayesu is the former mayor of Taba, a small town in Rwanda, who was found guilty of nine counts of genocide by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on September 2, 1998. ... Founded in 1924, California Western School of Law (popularly known as California Western or Cal Western) is a private, non-profit law school located in San Diego, California. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is a court under the auspices of the United Nations for the prosecution of offenses committed in Rwanda during the incident of genocide which occurred there during April, 1994, commencing on April 6. ... The term show trial serves most commonly to label a type of public trial in which the judicial authorities have already determined the guilt of the accused: the actual trial has as its only goal to present the accusation and the verdict to the public as an impressive example and...

Notes

^  House of Lords Should Stand on "Right Side of History," says Rights Group (http://www.hrw.org/press98/nov/appeal.htm) - Human Rights Watch on the implications of the Kambanda conviction to Pinochet case (from 1998). 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ...