Facts
Pierre Basabosé is a businessman and a retired member of the Rwandan army who ran a foreign exchange office with the support of the presidential family. In 1993, he became the second largest shareholder in the Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines, known for its calls for ethnic hatred before and during the genocide. He was convicted for having financed genocidal propaganda. According to the sentence, he distributed money and weapons to the Interahamwe militia in Gatenga and Gikondo and encouraged them to kill Tutsis.
After the genocide, he fled Kigali to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Kenya, Kazakhstan and Germany before arriving in Belgium, where he was granted refugee status.
Procedure
Basabosé was arrested on 30 September 2020 and charged with genocide and war crimes while the investigation was ongoing. He was released under investigation in May 2021.
On 19 September 2022, Basabosé was sent to trial on genocide and war crimes charges with Séraphin Twahirwa.
On 12 June 2023, Basabosé’s lawyer argued that the proceedings were inadmissible on the grounds of his 76-year-old client’s deteriorated mental health.
On 21 June 2023, the court ruled that the trial would go ahead despite Basabosé’s fragile mental health and memory problems. The court stated that “the oral hearings at the Assize Court will likely enable Pierre Basabosé to recall the facts in question, understand what he is accused of, and defend himself.” The prosecutor stated that at the end of the trial she would request for him to be put in a medical establishment in any case.
On 9 October 2023, the trial began before the Brussels Criminal Court. Around 100 witnesses testified before the court, including 40 who came from Rwanda especially for the trial. The Belgian prosecutor called for the internment in a medical establishment for Basabosé. Basabosé’s lawyers denied the accusations and argued for an acquittal, questioning the credibility of the witness testimonies. Basabosé could not be interrogated by the Court due to his diagnosed senile dementia and could only provide one oral statement at the end of the trial.
On 19 December 2023, the popular jury of the Brussels Criminal Court convicted Pierre Basabosé of war crimes and genocide for dozens of murders and deliberate attacks on civilians.
Basabosé was committed to indefinite internment in a medical facility.
He appealed the decision before the Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation).