Eliezer Niyitegeka was arrested at the request of the Chief Prosecutor of the ICTR on 9 February 1999 in Nairobi, Kenya. On 11 February 1999, he was transferred to the United Nations prison quarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
At his initial court appearance before the Third Trial Chamber on 15 April 1999, Niyitegeka pleaded not guilty to the six counts with which he was charged. On 3 July 2000, after a modification to his bill of indictment, Niyitegeka again pleaded not guilty to the 10 counts with which he was then charged. His bill of indictment was once again modified in December 2002. His trial opened on 17 June 2002. During his closing speech, the counsel for the prosecution withdrew counts 9 and 10 which charged Niyitegeka with various war crimes, recognising that insufficient proof had been supplied during the trial to support these charges. Finally, after hearing 24 witnesses and after a trial lasting 33 days, the court adjourned on 28 February 2003to consider its verdict.
On 16 May 2003, the First Trial Chamber of the ICTR handed down its judgement and found Eliezer Niyitegeka -by a unanimous verdict- guilty of: “genocide” (1st count), of “conspiracy to commit genocide” (3rd count), of “direct and public incitation to commit genocide” (4th count) of “murder as a crime against humanity” (5th count), of “extermination as a crime against humanity” (6th count) and of “other inhumane acts as a crime against humanity” (8th count). Niyitegeka was found not guilty of “complicity in genocide” (2nd count) and not guilty of “rape as a crime against humanity” (7th count).
Niyitegeka was sentenced to life imprisonment, the maximum penalty provided for by the ICTR. He appealed his verdict, but on 9 July 2004, the Appeals Chamber confirmed, in its entirety, the verdict and the sentence imposed on Niyitegeku by the First Trial Chamber.
On 7 December 2008, he was transferred to Mali where he will spend the remainder of his sentence. |
