A Netherlands court in Hague has today (Friday) sentenced Yvonne Ntacyobatabara Basebya to 6 years in Prison.
Ntacyobatabara is a Rwandan accused of Genocide and instigating Genocide specifically at Gikondo a suburb in Kigali city.
Thijs Berger the Dutch National Prosecutor told IGIHE in an exclusive interview that his country’s prosecution had sought a life sentence for Yvonne.
Berger and his team have been in Rwanda gathering evidence from several witnesses at Gikondo which would pin down Yvonne for her substantial role in the 1994 genocide against Tutsi.
He said although his team interogated several witnesses at the site of crime, only 13 witnesses provided substantial information credible enough to pin down Yvonne.
Yvonne is accused of recruiting several youths in Gikondo and indoctrinating them with hate ideology to kill ethnic Tutsis.
Witnesses interogated by the Dutch prosecution team, confirmed that Yvonne held meetings with local leaders and that she created a militia in Gikondo that she also commanded on the streets during killings.
Berger said that his team was satisfied that Yvonne having recruited, indoctrinated and provided funds to the youths to kill ethnic Tutsis, amounts to Genocide, “although there is no evidence that she practically killed anyone”.
Yvonne a member of the Hutu Extremist party was a neighbour of Martin Bucyana the founder of CDR (Coalition for the Defense of the Republic).
However, Yvonne had earlier told the Dutch court that she didn’t belong to CDR party.
When Bucyana was lynched to death on February 22 in 1994, by an angry mob in former Butare Prefecture in southern Rwanda, several revenge killings erupted at Gikondo- most of them (killings) were linked to Yvonne.
About 110 ethnic killings in Gikondo were linked to Yvonne who drafted a list of those to be killed.
Inquiring from Mr. Berger about the extradition of Yvonne, he said, the accused is a Dutch national and since there is no extradition treaty between Rwanda and the Netherlands, there is no way Yvonne can be deported to Rwanda.
“Yvonne will stay in our country (Netherlands). She is Dutch. And she is protected by the Dutch law,” He said. “As Long as she is a Dutch national we cannot extradite her”. Berger told IGIHE hours before catching his exit flight on Wednesday.
Berger told IGIHE, “We have done everything in our power to gather substantial evidence from Gacaca files and witnesses. We have very convincing proof that Yvonne committed genocide in 1994 in Rwanda”.
Yvonne is the second Rwandan tried under the Dutch justice system for genocide crimes committed in Rwanda.
In 2004, Yvonne, her six children and husband Obtained Dutch Nationality in 2004.
Mr. Augustin Basebya the husband to Yvonne told Radio Netherlands, “She (Yvonne) was never a member of this party. Never. I lived with Yvonne for 42 years. I know her and she knows me. It’s absolutely impossible that she was a member of another party than my party.”
“I was chosen to be a deputy in the National Republican Movement for the Democracy and Development (MRND), founded by our former president Habyarimana. It wasn’t an extremist or racist party. Both Tutsis and Hutus were in the MRND. It was a party that brought all Rwandans together.”
He further said, “Me and my wife have got six children. Back in Rwanda I was an official. Then I became a deputy(Member of Parliament) for 10 years and I was in politics. My wife worked for the Rwandan government of Habyarimana, she was never involved in any politics.”
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