Jean-Paul Akayesu

Who is Jean-Paul Akayesu?

Jean-Paul Akayesu is a former teacher, school inspector, and Democratic Republican Movement politician from Rwanda. He served as mayor of Taba commune from April 1993 until June 1994.

As mayor, Akayesu was responsible for performing executive functions and maintaining order in Taba, meaning he had command of the communal police and any gendarmes assigned to the commune. He was subject only to the prefect. He was considered well-liked and intelligent.

During the Rwandan Genocide of mid-1994, many Tutsis were killed in Akayesu's commune, and many others were subject to violence and other forms of hatred. Akayesu not only refrained from stopping the killings, but personally supervised the murder of various Tutsis. He also gave a death list to other Hutus, and ordered house-to-house searches to locate Tutsis.