Prosecutor v.

Nyiramasuhuko

Case No. ICTR-98—42-A

Date: December 14, 2015

FACTS

Pauline Nyiramasuhuko was born in 1946 in the commune of Ndora, Butare prefecture,
Rwanda. Born into a farming family, she became a local success story.

At college, she became friends with Agathe Kanziga who, later, was to marry the Hutu President
Juvénal Habyarimana. After completing her studies, she left Butare for Kigali where she took up
a post in the Ministry for Social Affairs. At the age of 22, Nyiramasuhuko became National
Inspector at the Ministry. In 1968, she married Maurice Ntahobali, who became President of
the Rwandan National Assembly, then Minister of Higher Education and finally Rector of the
National University of Butare. Nyiramasuhuko then started her law studies.

In 1992, at a time when she was already one of the leaders of the National Republican
Movement for Democracy (MRND, the Presidential party), she was nominated to the position
of Minister for the Family and Woman’s Affairs. She held this position up until July 1994, the
date at which she fled Rwanda. In this capacity, she held authority and control over all of the
institutions and the personnel within her Ministry. Furthermore, she attended meetings of the
Council of Ministers where she became acquainted with the socio-political situation of the
country and where she was made aware of government policies. She also participated in the
development and implementation of the policies adopted by the interim government.

From the end of 1990 until July 1994, Nyiramasuhuko was said to have adhered to, and
participated in the detailed development of a plan aimed at exterminating the Tutsis. Amongst
other elements, this plan included recourse to hatred and ethnic violence, the training of and
distribution of arms to militias as well as the drafting of lists of people to be eliminated. In the
accomplishment of this plan, she reportedly planned, ordered and participated in the
massacres.

From April to July 1994, Nyiramasuhuko was said to have publicly incited the population to
exterminate the Tutsi population. Between 9 April and 14 July 1994, during various meetings of
the Council of Ministers, several ministers, one of which being Nyiramasuhuko, reportedly
made requests for arms for distribution within their home prefectures in order to perpetrate
massacres. During the course of these meetings, the interim government adopted directives
and issued instructions to préfets (prefecture heads) and mayors which were aimed at inciting,
encouraging and helping them to commit massacres. To ensure that these directives were
carried out, the interim government designated, for each prefecture, a minister responsible for
what was called “pacification”. Nyiramasuhuko was named as the minister responsible for
“pacification” for the Butare prefecture.

Soon after the arrival of Nyiramasuhuko in Butare, cars with loudspeakers drove around the
streets of Butare announcing that the Red Cross had set up camp in a stadium not far from
there to provide food and shelter to the population. On 25 April 1994, thousands of Tutsis
decided to go to the stadium. It turned out to be a trap. Instead of finding food and shelter, the
refugees were surrounded by the Interahamwe (extremist Hutu militia). Nyimarasuhuko then
allegedly supervised an attack against them and encouraged the participation of the
Interahamwe. She was also said to have ordered that the women be raped before being killed.
At the end of this massacre, Nyiramasuhuko reportedly went to an encampment where a group
of Interahamwe were holding prisoner some 70 Tutsi women and young girls. According to the
Prosecutor of the ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda), she gave an order to the
Interahamwe to rape the women before sprinkling them with petrol and burning them to
death.

The préfet of Butare, the only one of Tutsi origin in the country, openly contested the
massacres in his prefecture. For this reason, thousands of Tutsis had sought refuge in Butare
from the beginning of the massacres. Being aware of the specific situation predominating in
Butare, Nyiramasuhuko dismissed the préfet and then reportedly incited the population to get
involved in the massacres. Some time after this, the préfet was arrested and murdered. On 20
April 1994, Nyiramasuhuko reportedly asked the new préfet, Sylvain Nsabimana, to provide her
with military assistance in order to proceed with further massacres in Ngoma commune.

Between April and July 1994, a roadblock was set up close to the home of Nyiramasuhuko. The
latter, together with her son Arsène Shalom Ntahobali mounted the guard over this roadblock.
During this entire period, with military help, this roadblock was used as a means to identify,
abduct and murder Tutsis.

Between 19 April and end of June 1994, Nyiramasuhuko and her son, accompanied by the
Interahamwe and the military, were reported to have gone to the offices of the prefecture on
several occasions to pick up Tutsis. Those who tried to resist were assaulted and in some
instances killed on the spot. As for the others, they were taken away to different places in the
prefecture, and in particular to the forest close to the Rwandan Evangelical School, where they
were executed. Just before they were transported away, the victims were often forced to take
off their clothes before being forced into the vehicles. Nyiramasuhuko is also said to have
selected Tutsi woman, at this point, to be raped.

In July 1994, in the face of the advancing FPR (Front Patriotique Rwandais, an opposition group
consisting mainly of Tutsi refugees and led by Paul Kagame), Nyiramasuhuko fled Rwanda in the
direction of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). After going into hiding in a refugee camp
in the DRC, she finally made her way to Kenya, where she lived as a fugitive for almost three
years. On 18 July 1997, she was arrested in Nairobi.