Rwanda ex-mayor sentenced to 15 years

" The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on Apr. 13 sentenced a former mayor to 15 years in prison for his role in the 1994 genocide. The Rwanda government welcomed the sentencing of Paul Bisengimana, 58, who pleaded guilty, reversing an early "not guilty" plea he had made before the court. Bisengimana was mayor for Gikoro Commune in Kigali Rural Province during the genocide. The UN Security Council established the tribunal, based in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha, to bring to trial the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide. At least 937,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed during the genocide, according to Rwandan government estimates. Presiding Judge Arlete Ramaroson said while Bisengimana had been present when the mass murders of Tutsi refugees occurred at Musha Church in Kigali Rural Province, he did nothing to stop the killings. "His presence accelerated the killings," she added. Ramaroson said that Bisengimana's reversed guilty plea, three years after he pleaded not guilty, would help in bringing reconciliation in Rwanda. He was arrested in Mali in December 2001 and later transferred to the tribunal's detention facility. Bisengimana reversed his plea in November 2005, after striking a deal with the prosecution to change the counts he faced from 10 to two. In a revised indictment, the prosecution charged Bisengimana with murder and extermination. Bisengimana was implicated in the killings of thousands of Tutsis and in the distribution of weapons to the "Interahamwe" militiamen, who have been largely blamed for most of the killings. The genocide in Rwandan began on Apr. 6, 1994, when unidentified assailants shot down a plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana near the capital, Kigali. Since it inception, the tribunal has handed down 26 judgments, involving 26 convictions and three acquittals. Currently, trials are on going for 26 suspects. The UN has set a 2008 deadline for the tribunal to complete the trials.