UN calls on Burundi to accept Rwandan refugees News
UN calls on Burundi to accept Rwandan refugees

[JURIST] The UN High Commissioner for Refugees [official website] has called on the government of Burundi to recognize more than 3,000 Rwandan refugees [JURIST report] as asylum seekers, allowing them to stay in the country. Since March, nearly 8,000 Rwandans, primarily Hutus, have fled their homes in fear of prosecution by grassroots gacaca courts [official website; Wikipedia backgrounder] which are trying suspects for their roles in Rwanda's 1994 genocide [JURIST news archive; BBC backgrounder]. The UNHCR's spokesperson in Burundi, Catherine-Lune Grayson, made the appeal before a Monday meeting between Burundi's Interior Minister Savator Ntacobamaze and Rwanda's local administration minister Protais Musoni. Grayson said, "They've been waiting months in precarious conditions … a positive decision needs to be taken quickly." AFP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.