Rwanda ex-official pleads not guilty to genocide charges before ICTR News
Rwanda ex-official pleads not guilty to genocide charges before ICTR

[JURIST] Former Rwandan Minister of Youth and Sports Callixte Nzabonimana [TrialWatch profile] Wednesday pleaded not guilty [ICTR press release] to charges [indictment, DOC] relating to Rwanda's 1994 genocide in his first appearance before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website; JURIST news archive]. Nzabonimana was arrested [JURIST report] Monday in Tanzania and faces charges of conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitements to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of Article 3 of the Geneva Convention. The UN News Centre has more.

The ICTR was established to try genocide suspects for crimes occurring during the 1994 Rwandan conflict [HRW backgrounder] between Hutus and Tutsis in which approximately 800,000 people, primarily Tutsis, died.

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.