First Ever Woman Convicted of Genocide

A Rwandan woman charged with ordering a rape campaign during the 1994 genocide will spend the rest of her life in prison.

The UN's tribunal for war crimes committed in Rwanda has, for the first time, convicted a woman of genocide, sentencing Pauline Nyiramasuhuko to life in prison. Nyiramasuhuko, 65, was Rwanda's minister for women's affairs before the 1994 genocide that killed more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis in a few short months. The court found her guilty on seven charges pertaining to genocide, including planning massacres in the southern region of Butare and inciting militias to commit rape campaigns. Nyiramasuhuko was arrested in 1997 in Kenya, and has been held by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda ever since.