[JURIST] Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website] in 2003 for crimes relating to the Rwandan genocide, was released from prison [press release] Wednesday after serving his sentence, becoming the first person freed after serving a tribunal sentence. Ntakirutimana, a Seventh Day Adventist pastor, was found guilty [JURIST report] of aiding and abetting the genocide that claimed the lives of more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison [judgment and sentence] and was credited for time served before his conviction. Ntakirutimana was arrested in the US in 1996.

At the 2003 trial, ICTR prosecutors accused Ntakirutimana of leading Hutu rebels to places where Tutsis were hiding and ordering the roof over his church in western Rwanda be removed so that the Tutsis could not use it as shelter. The ICTR also convicted his son, Dr. Gerard Ntakirutimana, of related crimes and sentenced him to 25 years in prison. The UN News Service has more.