The UN Court in Tanzania, trying suspects of the 1994 Rwanda genocide, has found a female former government minister and her son guilty of war crimes and gave both life sentences, marking the first time a woman has been convicted of genocide.
Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, Rwanda's former minister for family and women affairs, and her son, Arsene Ntahobali, a former militia leader, were both on Friday found guilty of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, including rape.
The court found that the mother and son helped to abduct hundreds of ethnic Tutsis who were assaulted, raped and killed in the southern region of Butare.
Nyiramasuhuko is the only woman to be charged before the special genocide court. Hanna Brollowski, an international law researcher at the TMC Asser Instuut in The Hague, said she is the first woman convicted anywhere in the world of genocide.
At least 500000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered during Rwanda's 100-day genocide.
Butare was among the last strongholds to have fallen to the killings.
The court established that between April and June 1994 the mother and son, with the assistance of the extremist Hutu militia known as the Interahamwe, went to Butare and abducted hundreds of ethnic Tutsis.
"Many were physically assaulted, raped and taken away to various places in Butare, where they were killed. During the course of these repeated attacks on vulnerable civilians, both Nyiramasuhuko and Ntahobali ordered killings.
They also ordered rapes. Ntahobali further committed rapes and Nyiramasuhuko aided and abetted rapes," said the judgment read out by presiding Judge William Sekule.
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