The court found the guilty plea, the repentance and the pardon request inadmissible and found Rurangwa guilty of having killed a man named Gasongo and having inflicted an inhuman treatment to his corpse, and thus sentences him to a sentence of 15 years in prison, with civic degradation.
The defendant, who was 14 years old at the time of the event, had already been sentenced for the same crimes to five years in prison, in mid-July by the court of the Nyakabanda sector. "I appealed, because the court seems not to have taken into account my guilty plea", he said.
According to several witnesses, Rurangwa, reported on in 2003 by neighbours as he occupied an administrative position in his village, had been obligated at the time to publicly recognize his crimes during the genocide. "That is not part of the plea, repentance and pardon procedure", explained the court after the hearing.
The 15 years in prison is the maximum sentence for minors under the Gacaca regulations, a semi-traditional justice system. The Gacaca courts are not presided by professional judges but by people of high integrity from within the community.
SRE/PB/MM/SC
© Hirondelle News Agency