Froduald Karamira (14 August 1947 – 24 April 1998) was a

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

n politician who was found guilty of crimes in organising the implementation of the 1994

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...

. He was sentenced to death by a Rwandan court and was one of the last 22 individuals

executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

by Rwanda, in April 1998. He was an ethnic Tutsi.

Political career

Karamira was born in Mushubati, Gitarama, Rwanda into a

Tutsi The Tutsi ( ), also called Watusi, Watutsi or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu languages, Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi ( ...

family. By following a Rwandan tradition, he became a

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic group native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda where they form one of the principal ethnic groups alongside the Tutsi and the Great L ...

. After his conversion, he gained in importance both politically and economically, owning several buildings in

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali is a relativ ...

. Karamira became Second Vice President of the

MDR MDR may refer to: Biology * MDR1, an ATP-dependent cellular efflux pump affording multiple drug resistance * Mammalian diving reflex * Medical device reporting * Multiple drug resistance, when a microorganism has become resistant to multiple drugs ...

party and was a leader in the extremist wing of the party, nicknamed "

Hutu Power Hutu Power, or Hutu Supremacy, is an ethnic supremacist ideology that asserts the ethnic superiority of Hutu, often in the context of being superior to Tutsi and Twa, and therefore, they are entitled to dominate and murder these two groups an ...

". After the murder of Burundian president

Melchior Ndadaye Melchior Ndadaye (28 March 1953 – 21 October 1993) was a Burundian banker and politician who became the first democratically elected and first Hutu president of Burundi after winning the landmark 1993 Burundian presidential election, 1993 electi ...

on 21 October 1993, Karamira gave a public speech during which he coined the concept of "Hutu Power". He called on Hutus "to rise ndtake the necessary measures", and to "look within ourselves for the enemy which is amongst us"."Froduald Karamira"
, TRIAL International, accessed 5 December 2017.

Rwandan genocide

On 8 April 1994, after the

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

of Hutu

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Juvénal Habyarimana Juvénal Habyarimana (; ; 8 March 19376 April 1994) was a Rwandan politician and military officer who was the second president of Rwanda, from 1973 until Assassination of Juvénal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira, his assassination in 1994. H ...

when his plane was shot down, Karamira participated in the creation of the

interim government A provisional government, also called an interim government, an emergency government, a transitional government or provisional leadership, is a temporary government formed to manage a period of transition, often following state collapse, revolut ...

. During the genocide, Karamira gave daily propaganda speeches that were broadcast on the Mille Collines radio station. After the Tutsi

Rwandan Patriotic Front The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF–Inkotanyi; , FPR) is the ruling political party in Rwanda. The RPF was founded in December 1987 by Rwandan Tutsi in exile in Uganda because of the ethnic violence that had occurred during the Rwandan Hutu Revo ...

defeated the government in July 1994 and the genocide ended, Karamira disappeared from Rwanda. He was indicted by the government of Rwanda for

genocide Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" by ...

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

, and non-assistance to people in danger.

Extradition standoff

In June 1996, Karamira was arrested by

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n officials in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

and was

extradited In an extradition, one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdic ...

to Rwanda. However, Karamira managed to escape from his guards in the airport of

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

, but was recaptured several days later. This was brought to the attention of

Richard Goldstone Richard Joseph Goldstone (born 26 October 1938) is a South African retired judge who served in the Constitutional Court of South Africa from July 1994 to October 2003. He joined the bench as a judge of the Supreme Court of South Africa, first i ...

, the chief prosecutor for the ICTR, who requested the

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

n authorities to send Karamira to the ICTR in

Arusha Arusha is a city in Tanzania. The city is the Capital city, capital of the Arusha Region. It has a population of 617,631 people.

instead. Although Ethiopia was obligated to comply with Goldstone under international law, Goldstone gave in after Rwanda threatened to suspend all cooperation with the ICTR.

Trial, and execution

His trial began on 13 January 1997 in

. In addition to his daily speeches that incited genocide, it was claimed that he was instrumental in creating and arming the

Interahamwe The Interahamwe ( or ) is a Hutu paramilitary organization active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The Interahamwe was formed around 1990, as the youth wing of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (M ...

militias; he was also accused of being personally responsible for the killing of hundreds of Tutsis, including 13 members of his own family. On 14 February 1997, Karamira was convicted on all counts and sentenced to death by firing squad. He appealed to the Kigali Appeals Court, but the appeal was rejected and his sentence confirmed on 12 September 1997. On 24 April 1998, in a public event at the Nyamirambo Stadium in Kigali, Karamira and several others were executed by

firing squad Firing may refer to: * Dismissal (employment), sudden loss of employment by termination * Firemaking, the act of starting a fire * Burning; see combustion * Shooting, specifically the discharge of firearms * Execution by firing squad, a method of ...

for their involvement in the Rwandan genocide. A total of 22 genocide convicts were executed in different locations across the country. Rwanda abolished capital punishment in 2007 after their almost festival-like executions were met harshly by human rights activists who fought hard to bring them to an end. The 22 people who were executed in 1998, including Karamira, were the last to be executed in Rwanda."Rwanda is the first African country in the Great Lakes region to abolish the death penalty"
, 2008-01-01, handsoffcain.info, accessed 2008-08-22.

Notes

References

*Linda Melvern (2004). ''Conspiracy to Murder: The Rwandan Genocide'' (New York: Verso, )

External links

''Ministère Public c. Karamira''
: trial judgment of Karamira's case ( French)
''Ministère Public c. Karamira''
: appeal judgment of Karamira's case ( French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Karamira, Froduald 1947 births 1998 deaths 20th-century executions by Rwanda Executed mass murderers Executed politicians Executed Rwandan people Hutu people National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development politicians People convicted of murder by Rwanda People executed by Rwanda by firing squad People executed for crimes against humanity People executed for war crimes People extradited from India People extradited to Rwanda People from Rutsiro District Rwandan propagandists Rwandan mass murderers Rwandan people convicted of crimes against humanity Rwandan people convicted of genocide Rwandan people convicted of murder Rwandan politicians convicted of crimes