Froduald Karamira

{{short description|Rwandan politician and convicted war criminal}}

{{infobox criminal

| image = Froduald Karamira.jpg

| birth_date = 14 August 1947

| birth_place = Mushubati, Gitarama Province, Rwanda-Urundi

| death_date = 24 April 1998 (aged 50)

| death_place = Nyamirambo Stadium, Kigali, Rwanda

| death_cause = Execution by firing squad

| criminal_penalty = Death

| conviction_status = Executed

| occupation = Second Vice President of the Republican Democratic Movement

| party = Republican Democratic Movement

| conviction = Multiple counts connected to his participation in the Rwandan genocide

}}

Froduald Karamira (14 August 1947 – 24 April 1998) was a Rwandan politician who was found guilty of crimes in organising the implementation of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. He was sentenced to death by a Rwandan court and was one of the last 22 individuals executed by Rwanda, in April 1998. He was an ethnic Tutsi.

Political career

Karamira was born in Mushubati, Gitarama, Rwanda into a Tutsi family. By following a Rwandan tradition, he became a Hutu. After his conversion, he gained in importance both politically and economically, owning several buildings in Kigali.

Karamira became Second Vice President of the MDR party and was a leader in the extremist wing of the party, nicknamed "Hutu Power".

After the murder of Burundian president Melchior Ndadaye on 21 October 1993, Karamira gave a public speech during which he coined the concept of "Hutu Power". He called on Hutus "to rise [and] take the necessary measures", and to "look within ourselves for the enemy which is amongst us".[https://trialinternational.org/latest-post/froduald-karamira/ "Froduald Karamira"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191011234646/https://trialinternational.org/latest-post/froduald-karamira/ |date=2019-10-11 }}, TRIAL International, accessed 5 December 2017.

Rwandan genocide

On 8 April 1994, after the death of Hutu President Juvénal Habyarimana when his plane was shot down, Karamira participated in the creation of the interim government. During the genocide, Karamira gave daily propaganda speeches that were broadcast on the Mille Collines radio station. After the Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front defeated the government in July 1994 and the genocide ended, Karamira disappeared from Rwanda. He was indicted by the government of Rwanda for genocide, murder, conspiracy, and non-assistance to people in danger.

Extradition standoff

In June 1996, Karamira was arrested by Indian officials in Mumbai and was extradited to Rwanda. However, Karamira managed to escape from his guards in the airport of Addis Ababa, but was recaptured several days later.{{Cite news |title=Trial opens of man said to be ringleader of genocide |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/trial-opens-of-man-said-to-be-ringleader-of-genocide-1.22077 |access-date=2022-11-10 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}} This was brought to the attention of Richard Goldstone, the chief prosecutor for the ICTR, who requested the Ethiopian authorities to send Karamira to the ICTR in Arusha instead. Although Ethiopia was obligated to comply with Goldstone under international law, Goldstone gave in after Rwanda threatened to suspend all cooperation with the ICTR.{{cite web|url=https://www.uantwerpen.be/images/uantwerpen/container2143/files/Publications/DP/2013/01-Reydams.pdf#page=43|page=43f|title=Let's Be Friends: The United States, Post-Genocide Rwanda, and Victor's Justice in Arusha|date=January 2013|first=Luc|last=Reydams|authorlink=Luc Reydams|work=Institute of Development Policy and Management|access-date=2018-01-11|archive-date=2019-04-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190429035151/https://www.uantwerpen.be/images/uantwerpen/container2143/files/Publications/DP/2013/01-Reydams.pdf#page=43|url-status=dead}}

Trial, and execution

His trial began on 13 January 1997 in Kigali. In addition to his daily speeches that incited genocide, it was claimed that he was instrumental in creating and arming the Interahamwe militias; he was also accused of being personally responsible for the killing of hundreds of Tutsis, including 13 members of his own family.

On 14 February 1997, Karamira was convicted on all counts and sentenced to death by firing squad. He appealed to the Kigali Appeals Court, but the appeal was rejected and his sentence confirmed on 12 September 1997. On 24 April 1998, in a public event at the Nyamirambo Stadium in Kigali, Karamira and several others were executed by firing squad for their involvement in the Rwandan genocide.Jane Standley, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/84120.stm "From butchery to executions in Rwanda"], BBC News, 1998-04-28.James C. McKinley Jr., [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980DEFDF103FF936A15757C0A96E958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 "As Crowds Vent Their Rage, Rwanda Publicly Executes 22"], New York Times, 1998-04-25. A total of 22 genocide convicts were executed in different locations across the country.

Rwanda abolished capital punishment in 2007 after their almost festival-like executions were met harshly by human rights activists who fought hard to bring them to an end. The 22 people who were executed in 1998, including Karamira, were the last to be executed in Rwanda.[http://www.handsoffcain.info/news/index.php?iddocumento=10001366 "Rwanda is the first African country in the Great Lakes region to abolish the death penalty"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524001733/http://www.handsoffcain.info/news/index.php?iddocumento=10001366 |date=2011-05-24 }}, 2008-01-01, handsoffcain.info, accessed 2008-08-22.

Notes

References

Linda Melvern (2004). Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwandan Genocide (New York: Verso, {{ISBN|1-85984-588-6}})

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20090225233535/http://www.trial-ch.org/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/trialwatch/Jugement_Karamira.pdf Ministère Public c. Karamira] : trial judgment of Karamira's case (French)
[https://web.archive.org/web/20090225233532/http://www.trial-ch.org/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/trialwatch/kamira_appel.pdf Ministère Public c. Karamira] : appeal judgment of Karamira's case (French)

Category:1947 births

Category:1998 deaths

Category:20th-century executions by Rwanda

Category:Executed mass murderers

Category:Executed politicians

Category:Executed Rwandan people

Category:Hutu people

Category:National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development politicians

Category:People convicted of murder by Rwanda

Category:People executed by Rwanda by firing squad

Category:People executed for crimes against humanity

Category:People executed for war crimes