![ICTR finds former Rwanda education minister not guilty of genocide](https://www.jurist.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/jurist-white-text.png)
[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda [official website] on Wednesday unanimously acquitted [press release] former education minister Andre Rwamakuba [ICTR case materials] on genocide charges, ruling [judgment, PDF; summary, PDF] that the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. Rwamakuba, also a physician, was charged [indictment, PDF] with genocide, or alternatively, complicity in genocide, and extermination and murder as crimes against humanity for allegedly ordering the massacre of Tutsis who sought refuge in hospitals.
According to the court's press release:
In its Judgement, the Chamber found that the evidence did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt the charges against Rwamakuba. The Chamber was convinced that the testimony of Prosecution witnesses was mainly indirect and hearsay evidence and undermined by significant credibility and reliability issues. Furthermore, the Chamber heard testimony from Defence witnesses, including Tutsis survivors, that the Accused was not present at the time and location of the events and was not involved in the massacres that took place in Gikomero commune and at Butare University Hospital in April 1994.
The UN News Service has more.