afrol News, 29 November - An appeal of a convicted Rwandan military officer was dismissed by the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Tanzania.

The court upheld Aloys Simba's 25-year prison sentence. The former army colonel was found guilty of committing genocide, extermination and crimes against humanity in 2005.

Simba's lawyers filed an appeal challenging the judgment. They argued that the judgment contained "errors of fact and procedure."

But judges dismissed all aspects of the defence team's appeal.

Simba had been close to the former Rwandan President, Juvenal Habyarimana, since he ascended to power in 1973. Hybarimana's death in a plane crash on 6 April 1994 sparked the 100-day genocide which saw the mass slaughter of Tutsis and Moderate Hutus by the Hutu militia.

The former colonel was convicted for arming and inciting his men to carry out the mass slaughter of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the southern Gikongor and Butare provinces.

Simba's attempts to jump the jurisdiction of the ICTR was unsuccessful, as he was arrested in Senegal in 2001 and extradited to stand trial before the Arusha-based tribunal.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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