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| |  | | Joseph Mpambara | | | context : | Rwanda  | | judgement place : | Netherlands | | status : | Sentenced | | particulars : | Arrested by the Dutch authorities on 7 August 2006; Trial before The Hague District Court started on 13 October 2008; found guilty of torture and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment on 23 March 2009 | | position : | Member of a militia linked to the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND) |
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| | | | On 7 August 2006, Joseph Mpambara was arrested by the Dutch authorities following an arrest warrant for genocide and war crimes issued in application of the principle of universal jurisdiction.
On 24 July 2007, the first instance Hague District Court declared itself incompetent to hear this case. It considered that Dutch criminal law does not provide for jurisdiction in the case of genocide committed by a Rwandese individual in Rwanda when there are no victims of Dutch nationality. The fact that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) had requested the Netherlands to put Mpambara on trial did not make any difference in the opinion of the District Court.
This decision not try Mpambara for genocide had an impact on the referral of the case of Michel Bagaragaza (see « related cases »), from the ICTR to the Netherlands. Bagaragaza had been charged with genocide by the ICTR. Indeed, three weeks after the decision by the Dutch court, on 17 August 2007, the ICTR revoked the decision to refer Bagaragaza’s case to the Netherlands.
The Dutch prosecutor, supported by the ICTR, appealed the District Court decision.
In December 2007, the Appeals Court confirmed the District Court`s decision with regard to the lack of competency of Dutch tribunals with regard to genocide. This decision was confirmed by the Dutch Supreme Court on 21 October 2008.
The trial before the District Court in The Hague on charges related to war crimes took place between 13 October 2008 and 9 March 2009. Mpambara pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The Prosecution asked for a life sentence to be handed down against Joseph Mpambara.
On 23 March 2009, Mpambara was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for torture resulting in the death of two Tutsi mothers and their four children. The Court pointed out that it was on orders given by Mpambara that the mothers and their children had been beaten with clubs and hacked with machetes.
The Court, however, did not find Mpambara guilty of war crimes mainly because of the defendant’s civilian status.
Joseph Mpambara was also found guilty of having detained during several hours on 27 April 1994, a German-Rwandan couple and their baby. During this time he humiliated the wife threatening that he would kill her in front of her husband and child.
The accused was, however, acquitted of the rape of four women, of an attack against a protestant church in Mugonero where Tutsis had sought refuge and of the kidnapping of three children from the same family. | |     click for more... | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | last time seen : | | | The Hague, Netherlands | | | period of charges : | | | 04.1994 - 06.1994 | | | judgement period : | | | 13.10.2008 - 23.03.2009 | | | charges : | | | Genocide
War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 04.12.2009 |
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