ARUSHA, Tanzania, Jan 17 (AFP)- The international court dealing with Rwanda's 1994 genocide on Monday praised a former local Rwandan official for pleading guilty to the charges against him last month and expressed hope that other suspects would follow suit.
Judge Andresia Vaz of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) lauded "the courage" of Vincent Rutaganira in admitting his guilt and becoming only the fourth accused to plead guilty before the court.
"We congratulate you for your courage," Vaz told Rutaganira who was in court for a pre-sentence hearing. "We hope that others will follow your example."
She said she would rule on Rutaganira's punishment at the end of next month or early March, according to the independent Hirondelle news agency that is covering the ICTR trials.
In December, Rutanginara, a 60-year-old Hutu, pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the April 1994 massacre of Tutsis hiding in a church in Muguba, the western town where he served as a councillor.
He had been charged with genocide and intent to commit genocide but agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of complicity by ommission in extermination for not having tried to save the Tutsis.
On Monday, as he did in December, Rutanginara begged the forgiveness of the court and the families of the victims of the massacre.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, Rutanginara, who suffers from diabetes, will serve a jail term of between six and eight years although he lawyer on Monday asked the court not to sentence him to more than six.
At least 800,000 people, most of them minority Tutsis, were killed between April and July of 1994 after the assassination of a Hutu president led to the organized slaughter of Tutsis and Hutu opponents.
The ICTR, set up in 1994, has to date convicted 20 people for their part in the genocide and acquitted three.
01/17/2005 16:23 GMT - AFP