Pauline Nyiramasuhuko

Pauline Nyiramasuhuko (1946-?) is a former Rwandan politician and the first woman to be convicted by the International Criminal Court for Rwanda. She was involved in the Rwandan Genocide and in particular the actions of the Butare Interahamwe.

Role in the genocide
In response to the citizens of Butare refusing to participate in the genocide, the government sent Nyiramasuhuko to the area to deal with it. When the local governor (who was a Tutsi, the victims of the genocide) refused to organize the killings in Butare, Nyiramasuhuko had him killed before calling in the Kigali militia, known as the Interahamwe.

On 25 April 1994, the Butare stadium was home to a massacre when the Red Cross began handing out food to Tutsi refugees. However, Nyiramasuhuko's son, Arsène Shalom Ntahobali, had organized an ambush, during which Nyiramasuhuko told the troops "before you kill the women, you need to rape them". She also ordered several men to burn a group of women to death using petrol from her car.

After the genocide, Nyiramasuhuko fled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and later to Kenya, where she was arrested in 1997 along with her son, Prime Minister Jean Kambanda and eight other perpetrators.

Trial
Nyiramasuhuko was charged with conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, violations of the Geneva Conventions and incitement to rape. She was convicted on all charges and is currently serving a twenty-five years to life prison sentence in Rwanda. Ntahobali received a whole-life sentence and Nyiramasuhuko's daughter-in-law Beatrice recieved a ten year sentence.