Rosalie Gicanda
{{Infobox royalty | name = Umwamikazi Gicanda | image = Tutsi princess.jpg | caption = | succession = Queen of Rwanda | reign = 13 January 1942 – 25 July 1959 | succession2 = Queen Dowager of Rwanda | reign2 = 25 July 1959 – 20 April 1994 | coronation = | full name = | native_lang1 = | native_lang1_name1 = | birth_date = 1928 | birth_place = Rwamagana, Rwanda-Urundi | death_date = 20 April 1994 (aged 65–66) | death_place = Butare, Rwanda | burial_date = | burial_place = Nyanza District | predecessor = | successor = | spouse = Mutara III Rudahigwa | house = Abanyiginya | house-type = Clan | father = | mother =
Queen Dowager Rosalie Gicanda (1928Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).
Death
[edit]On 20 April 1994, as the Rwandan genocide began in earnest in Butare, a detachment of soldiers commanded by Lt. Pierre Bizimana, acting under the orders of Capt. Ildéphonse Nizeyimana, kidnapped the former Queen along with others from her house. They then took the captives behind the National Museum (now the Ethnographic Museum) and shot them. Only a younger girl survived to tell the story of the murders. Two days later, the Queen's mother was also murdered. At the request of a priest, Butare mayor Kanyabashi recovered Queen Gicanda’s body and had it buried in the yard next to her house.[1]
Public reaction
[edit]The Queen was a living symbol for Tutsis, and her murder shocked many. It effectively signaled the beginning of the mass killing in the Butare area, which saw some of the worst atrocities committed during the fighting.
After the genocide, a Rwandan military court found Bizimana and Private 1st Class Aloys Mazimpaka guilty of genocide and the murder of Queen Gicanda and her family. (Chambre Specialisée du Conseil de Guerre de Butare, case no. LMD 187, LP 0001-PS 97, Judgment pronounced July 27, 1998.) Bizimana was sentenced to death, Mazimpaka to life in prison.
On 6 October 2009, Nizeyimana was arrested in Kampala, Uganda. Nizeyimana was one of the most wanted suspects in the Rwandan genocide.[2] On 19 June 2012, he was convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda of ordering the killing of the former Tutsi queen, as well as other murders, and was sentenced to life imprisonment.[3]
Notes
[edit]- ^ Rwanda genocide: Nizeyimana convicted of killing Queen Gicanda, 19 June 2012, BBC, Retrieved 2 March 2016
- ^ "Rwanda queen-killing suspect held". Oct 6, 2009. Retrieved Jun 18, 2020 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "Rwandan queen killer convicted". Jun 19, 2012. Retrieved Jun 18, 2020 – via www.bbc.co.uk.