This comes despite the Appeals Court making a review of the final sentence before, a judicial source disclosed to APA on Friday.
The Court of Appeal in Kigali has heard the appeal of Agnes Ntamabyariro against the life sentence handed down to her by the High Court in 2015, according to her lawyer, Gatera Gashabana who submitted their appeal before three judges.
Ntamabyariro had been convicted twice for genocide crimes and sentenced by Nyarugenge Intermediate Court to life in 2009 which was confirmed by the High Court in 2015.
Accused of crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity, Ntamabyariro had previously challenged the action of the State Counsel’s Office of illegally arresting her by kidnapping in Zambia, illegal detention, detention without an arrest warrant and torture, all contrary to international conventions.
The former minister is charged with planning genocide, crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity, planning meetings and organizing genocide in Nyanza and Kibuye, her native prefecture, distributing weapons, and murders of Jean Baptiste Habyarimana, ex-Governor of Butare, and the godson of her husband.
She has denied the charges.
Already in detention for 21 years, Ntamabyariro is the only member of the government in place during the genocide to be tried by a Rwandan court.
The rest are on trial or have been tried by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha (Tanzania) set up by the UN Security Council to try the key architects of the 1994 killings.