Désiré Munyaneza
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Désiré Munyaneza (born 1966) is a Rwandan man currently living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is notable as the first man to be arrested in Canada on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, for his alleged role in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.
On October 19, 2005, the RCMP announced it had detained Munyaneza under the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act with the following charges:
- Two counts of genocide.
- Two counts of crimes against humanity.
- Three counts of war crimes.
Munyaneza was the first person to be arrested under that law, which was passed to give formal recognition to Canada's obligations to the International Criminal Court.
Munyaneza is alleged to have committed the acts near Butare, Rwanda, in 1994. [1] [2]
In March 2007, Munyaneza's trial began with the testimony of a woman, identified only as witness C-15, who stated that she had pretended to be dead for three days and smeared her sister's blood on her body in order to hide from Interahamwe gangs. [3] [4]
On April 10, a witness known as C-17 testifed that Munyaneza had raped her four times, and that she had witnessed him personally raping and killing others. [5]
On April 11, Munyaneza was severely beaten in his cell at the Rivières-des-Prairies prison by a 17-year old who had heard about the details of Munyaneza's trial in the media. [6]
[edit] References
- ^ "Toronto man charged with Rwandan war crimes", CBC News, 19 October 2005. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
- ^ "No bail for man accused of Rwandan war crimes", CBC News, 27 April 2006. Retrieved on 2007-02-22.
- ^ "Woman pretended to be dead for 3 days, war crimes trial hears", CBC News, 26 March 2007. Retrieved on 2007-03-26.
- ^ Ha, Tu Thanh. "Horrors of Rwanda slaughter retold at Montreal war-crimes trial", Globe and Mail, 3 April 2007. Retrieved on 2007-04-03.
- ^ Peritz, Ingrid. "First rape victim testifies at war crimes trial", Globe and Mail, 10 April 2007. Retrieved on 2007-04-10.
- ^ "Teen inmate charged in Rwandan's prison beating", CBC News, 27 April 2007. Retrieved on 2007-04-27.
[edit] External links
- Article on Munyaneza at Trial Watch
- GREPIH, Working Group in International Criminal and Humanitarian Law, a student organization of the UQAM which supervises the monitoring of the Munyaneza trial.
