Bikindi the Musician Transferred to Arusha
Arusha, 28 March 2002
Simon Bikindi, a well-known Rwandan composer and singer of popular music,
is accused of having composed and performed songs which mobilised and incited
the Interahamwe militia and civilians to kill and destroy Tutsis.
He is also alleged to have participated with others in planning, instigating and preparing the killing of Tutsis and playing a major role in recruiting and training the Interahamwe to commit the crimes.
Bikindi was arrested in Leiden, The Netherlands, by Dutch authorities at the request of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and was transferred to the Tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania on March 27, to answer charges linking him with the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. He is being held at the UN Detention Facility in Arusha and will shortly make his initial appearance before a Judge of the Tribunal to answer the charges.
Bikindi, 48, is charged with six counts of conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, or in the alternative, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, and crimes against humanity for murder and persecution.
He is the director of the performance group Irindiro Ballet and was also an official in the Rwandan Ministry of Youth and Sports and a member of political party the Mouvement Républicain National pour la Démocratie et le Développement (National Republican Movement for Democacy and Development) (MRND) in 1994, the time of the massacres.
On April 4, Simon Bikindi pleaded "Not Guilty" to all charges.
Arusha, 28 March 2002
Simon Bikindi, a well-known Rwandan composer and singer of popular music,
is accused of having composed and performed songs which mobilised and incited
the Interahamwe militia and civilians to kill and destroy Tutsis.
He is also alleged to have participated with others in planning, instigating and preparing the killing of Tutsis and playing a major role in recruiting and training the Interahamwe to commit the crimes.
Bikindi was arrested in Leiden, The Netherlands, by Dutch authorities at the request of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and was transferred to the Tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania on March 27, to answer charges linking him with the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. He is being held at the UN Detention Facility in Arusha and will shortly make his initial appearance before a Judge of the Tribunal to answer the charges.
Bikindi, 48, is charged with six counts of conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, or in the alternative, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, and crimes against humanity for murder and persecution.
He is the director of the performance group Irindiro Ballet and was also an official in the Rwandan Ministry of Youth and Sports and a member of political party the Mouvement Républicain National pour la Démocratie et le Développement (National Republican Movement for Democacy and Development) (MRND) in 1994, the time of the massacres.
On April 4, Simon Bikindi pleaded "Not Guilty" to all charges.