Édouard Karemera

Who is Édouard Karemera?

Édouard Karemera is a former Rwandan politician. He is chiefly known for his alleged role in the Rwandan Genocide.

Born in Mwendo commune, Kibuye préfecture, Rwanda, of Hutu ethnicity, Karemana held the position of Minister of Institutional Relations in the government of Juvénal Habyarimana of May 1987.

After Habyarimana's assassination, he became Minister of the Interior in the interim government of Jean Kambanda until mid-July 1994. From July 1993 he was also First Vice-President of the MRND party.

Karemera fled Rwanda after its conquest by the RPF army. On 5 June 1998, he was arrested at his home in Lomé, Togo. His initial trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was suspended after the judge Andresia Vaz resigned because she had lived with a prosecutor. His new trial began on September 19, 2005. He was accused along with the rest of the prisoners and tried together with Matthieu Ngirumpatse, the President of the MRND, and sentenced to life imprisonment on December 21, 2012, at the age of 72, for his role in the genocide. He has appealed the verdict.