Background

Ndindiliyimana was born in Nyaruhengeri commune, Butare

Butare

Butare is a city in the Southern Province of Rwanda and capital of Huye district. It was the capital of the former Butare Province, Rwanda, that was dissolved on January 1, 2006....

 prefecture, Rwanda

Rwanda

Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...

. He joined the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR) and, as of 1994, held the rank of Major General

Major General

Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...

. On 2 September 1992 he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Gendarmerie nationale.

Role during the genocide

From late 1990 until April 1994, Ndindiliyimana conspired with other high-level FAR officers to plan the logistics of the Rwandan Genocide

Rwandan Genocide

The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...

. In early April 1994, he informed interahamwe

Interahamwe

The Interahamwe is a Hutu paramilitary organization. The militia enjoyed the backing of the Hutu-led government leading up to, during, and after the Rwandan Genocide. Since the genocide, they have been forced out of Rwanda, and have sought asylum in Congo...

leaders of a plan by UNAMIR force commander Roméo Dallaire

Roméo Dallaire

Lieutenant-General Roméo Antonius Dallaire, is a Canadian senator, humanitarian, author and retired general...

 to search for a cache of weapons, later used in the genocide.

Following the death of President Habyarimana

Juvénal Habyarimana

Juvénal Habyarimana was the third President of the Republic of Rwanda, the post he held longer than any other president to date, from 1973 until 1994. During his 20-year rule he favored his own ethnic group, the Hutus, and supported the Hutu majority in neighboring Burundi against the Tutsi...

, Ndindiliyimana was one of the senior FAR officers to serve on the Crisis Committee, along with Théoneste Bagosora

Théoneste Bagosora

Colonel Théoneste Bagosora is a former Rwandan military officer. He is chiefly known for his key role in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. And for that, he is sentenced to life imprisonment by the ICTR.-History and career:...

 and Tharcisse Renzaho

Tharcisse Renzaho

Tharcisse Renzaho is a Rwandan soldier and former politician. He is best known for his alleged role in the Rwandan Genocide.Renzaho was born in the Gaseta sector of the Kigarama commune, in the Rwandan prefecture of Kibungo. He was educated as a military engineer in various academies in Germany,...

.

Ndindiliyimana is mentioned frequently in Roméo Dallaire

Roméo Dallaire

Lieutenant-General Roméo Antonius Dallaire, is a Canadian senator, humanitarian, author and retired general...

's chronicle of his time as UNAMIR force commander. Dallaire writes that he "had always found his [Ndindiliyimana's] loyalties an enigma" and initially assumed he represented a moderate voice in the crisis committee.

In his autobiography, Paul Rusesabagina says that Ndindiliyimana was more of a moderate who did not seem to entirely approve of the genocide. He also notes that Ndindiliyimana was responsible for dismantling a potentially disastrous roadblock in front of the Hôtel des Mille Collines.

Arrest and trial

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda is an international court established in November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 955 in order to judge people responsible for the Rwandan Genocide and other serious violations of international law in Rwanda, or by Rwandan...

 (ICTR) issued an indictment against Ndindiliyimana and three other former FAR officers, charging them with genocide

Genocide

Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...

, conspiracy to commit genocide, and related crimes.

On January 29, 2000 he was arrested in Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 and handed over to the custody of the ICTR in Arusha

Arusha

Arusha is a city in northern Tanzania. It is the capital of the Arusha Region, which claims a population of 1,288,088, including 281,608 for the Arusha District . Arusha is surrounded by some of Africa's most famous landscapes and national parks...

, Tanzania

Tanzania

The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

. He was being defended by Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 lawyer Christopher Black

Christopher Black

Christopher Black is an international criminal lawyer and political activist based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has been involved in high-profile cases involving human rights and war crimes and has defended those accused of these crimes in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia and is on the list of...

. . In 2011, the ICTR convicted him of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. However, the ICTR judgment recognised Ndindiliyimana's “consistent support for the Arusha Accords and a peaceful resolution of the conflict between the Rwandan government forces and the [Rwandan Patriotic Front] RPF and his opposition to the massacres in Rwanda.” He was sentenced to time served since his arrest eleven years prior to the judgment. The ICTR ordered his release but Ndindiliyimana is reportedly unable to travel find asylum.

Ndindiliyimana's lawyer told Radio Netherlands Worldwide, “We haven’t decided on the appeal [...] We have to wait for the judgement. Some people say: you should just accept what you’ve got. But I think the conviction was very weak. My sense tells me there should be an appeal. That would be my recommendation. But it will be his decision.”

External links

• ICTR/Calendar - Eight trials set for March 2006
• General Ndindiliyimana demands that charges against him be dropped, Hirondelle News Agency, May 21, 2003