Idelphonse Nizeyimana was born in the prefecture of Gisenyi, Rwanda. He was second-in-command of military operations and intelligence of the school for non-commissioned officers (ESO) in Butare. He held the rank of captain. In this capacity, he exercised authority over the soldiers and personnel of the camp. In addition, Nizeyimana was a member of “Akazu" (literally "the little house") a term used to designate the circle of advisers to President Habyarimana). In this capacity, he exercised de facto authority over the officers and soldiers of the ESO.
From end 1990 until July 1994, Idelphonse Nizeyimana was said to have adhered to, and participated in the detailed development of a plan aimed at exterminating the Tutsis. Amongst other elements, this plan included recourse to hatred and ethnic violence, the training of and distribution of arms to militias as well as the drafting of lists of people to be eliminated. In the accomplishment of this plan, he was accused of having planned, ordered and participated in the massacres.
From April to July 1994, Nizeyimana allegedly participated in the extermination of Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
On 19 April 1994, the investiture ceremony for the new préfet, Sylvain Nsabimana, was the occasion of a large gathering of the interim government in Butare, during which the interim President Théodore Sindikubwabo gave a speech openly and explicitly calling on the population of Butare to follow the example of other prefectures by participating in the massacre of the Tutsis. Given that he was present at the ceremony and that he did not dissociate himself from the speech of the President of the Republic, Captain Nizeyimana clearly indicated to the population present that he approved of these massacres.
On a great number of occasions, Captain Nizeyimana allegedly incited, encouraged, facilitated and/or approved of, amongst other acts, murder, abduction and the destruction of property perpetrated by the Interahamwe (extremist Hutu militia) and the regular soldiers.
Nizeyimana, by the use of his de facto authority, reportedly created secret units made up of extremist elements which he entrusted with secret missions. On 20 April 1994, during one such secret mission, Nizeyimana reportedly sent soldiers, commanded by lieutenant Pierre Bizimanato, to the home of Queen Dowager Rosalie Gicanda, a symbolic figure for all Tutsis, (she was the widow of King Mutara III of Rwanda), with an order for her execution.
On 27 April 1994, the interim government ordered the setting up of roadblocks, knowing that these could be used to identify Tutsis and their accomplices with the aim being their elimination. These orders were fully carried out as demonstrated by the fact that already in the same month, Captain Nizeyimany was said to have ordered the erection of roadblocks at strategic locations in Butare. Officially, the function of these control points was to search for weapons and to prevent infiltration by the enemy. Nevertheless many civilians were killed at these control points.
Furthermore, during the period of the allegations, ESO soldiers went to the University of Rwanda in Butare with the intention of killing the teaching staff and Tutsi students, within the framework of a plan to eliminate Tutsi intellectuals. Due to the position of authority he held over the ESO soldiers and the widespread nature of the massacres, Captain Nizeyimana knew or had reasons to know that these acts were being perpetrated and took no measures to prevent them from happening, to put a stop to them or to punish the perpetrators. Moreover, Nizeyimana allegedly ordered soldiers to execute entire families simply on suspicion of being Tutsis, as was the case with the Ruhutiyanya family, for example.
In the majority of cases, Captain Nizeyimana himself reportedly gave the direct order to the soldiers and militias to launch the attacks and provided material assistance consisting of, for example, means of transportation and grenades. Nizeyimana also reportedly furnished a jeep for the abduction and murder of four civilians in Rwasave.
During many of the attacks, numerous woman and girls were raped and subjected to sexual violence perpetrated by the Interahamwe. Nizeyimana, due to his position of authority and in view of the widespread nature of these acts, knew or had reasons to know that these acts were being perpetrated and took no measures to prevent them happening, to put a stop to them or to punish the perpetrators. In the majority of cases, these rapes were aggravated in that they were collective, multiple, committed against young virgin girls or against girls in the presence of their mothers or other members of their families. Furthermore the persons concerned were, in addition, subjected to physical violence and degrading treatment. For the most part, these acts of sexual violence ended with the murder of the victim.
At the time of the alleged facts, Nizeyimana was also said to have participated in the establishment of lists of persons to be eliminated, the majority of whom were intellectual or influential Tutsis, as well as in the prior identification of such persons. These lists were handed to the soldiers and militias with the order to arrest and/or kill the persons whose names appeared on them. The soldiers and the Interahamwe subsequently carried out the orders given to them.
On another occasion, on or about 30 April 1994, the parish of Ngoma came under attack. On this occasion also Nizeyimana, due to his position of authority and in view of the widespread nature of these acts, must have known or had reasons to know that these acts were being perpetrated and took no measures to prevent them happening, to put a stop to them or to punish the perpetrators. Nizeyimana, although in a position to do so, took no steps to assure the safety or security of the refugees and, to the contrary, even encouraged the attacks
Before this event, on 24 April 1994 or thereabouts, refugees from the school complex made up of orphans who had been evacuated from the Red Cross centre in Kacyiru and from other orphanages were attacked by ESO soldiers. Nizeyimana was accused of having sent these ESO soldiers to take part in this attack.
In June or July 1994, faced with the advance of the troops of the FPR (Rwandan Patriotic Front, an opposition movement composed essentially of Tutsi refugees and led by Paul Kagame), Nizeyimana fled Rwanda.
On 11 June 2002, the United States conducted a major media campaign in Kenya aimed at the capture of several men wanted by the ICTR, one of which being Nizeyimana. Although the American federal programme "Rewards for Justice" had already been used in an attempt to find persons indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, this was the first time it had been used against persons under accusation by the ICTR. A reward of up to $ 5'000'000 was put on offer for information leading to the arrest of Nizeyimana.
Idelphonse Nizeyimana was arrested on 5 October 2009 in Uganda and transferred to the ICTR to await trial.
Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
