Captain Innocent Found Guilty

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IctrIn what appears to represent both justice and the failure of a long-term parental naming strategy, Captain Innocent Sagahutu was convicted in May of crimes against humanity, following a lengthy trial. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which found Captain Innocent guilty of playing a role in the 1994 genocide.

Captain Innocent's superior officer, Major Unfortunately Just Francois-Xavier Nzuwonemeye, received the same sentence.

One of the main ringleaders, former army chief Augustin Bizimungu, was given 30 years for genocide and crimes against humanity, while another culprit, Augustin Ndindiliyimana, was convicted of the same charges but was released after getting credit for time served. That may seem pretty lenient for a genocide conviction, but due to the swift justice afforded by the ICTR, Ndindiliyimana was in prison for over ten years before he got a trial.

Now that I think about it, it seems really lenient for a genocide conviction anyway.

This could be explained by the ICTR's finding that Ndindiliyimana only had "partial control" over his forces, or possibly because they were just tired of having to spell the guy's name.

Captain Innocent was arrested in 2000 in Denmark, of all places, where he had been hiding out after fleeing Rwanda. He apparently did keep a low profile, I guess, or at least that's what I conclude from a headline in the Copenhagen Post: "Alleged mass murderer is good family man, neighbours say." I never find these sorts of stories very useful. What do they expect the neighbors to say? "Well, his lawn always looked nice, so we forgave him the occasional genocide."