Singer On Genocide Charges
September 25th 2006 04:11
52-year-old Simon Bikindi is a well-known Rwandan singer and composer. In fact, he is one of the country’s most famous figures and right now, he is facing the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on a number of charges regarding crimes against humanity in the early 90’s. These include conspiring to commit genocide, the public incitement of genocide, murder and persecution.
For those who may be slightly unsure of the term, under international law, genocide is defined as any act committed with the intent to destroy in whole or in part an ethnic, racial or religious group. This might include killing members of the group, causing serious physical or mental harm to them or deliberately imposing conditions on the group calculated to bring about its destruction.
1994 was a particularly horrific year for the people of Rwanda. Approximately 800,000 people were massacred by extremist militia, for being an ethnic “Tutsi” or moderate “Hutu”. The killings spanned over a period of 100 days and became one of the most large-scale acts of genocide and human atrocities in history.
So how did a popular singer get caught up in all of this? Bikindi, born an extremist Hutu, is accused of inciting genocide at the time through the lyrics of his popular music. The prosecution alleges that Bikindi’s music, which flooded mainstream Rwandan culture, encouraged youths and others to join Interahamwe militia who were responsible for carrying out a significant number of the 1994 killings.
Further, it is alleged that Bikindi not only participated in the killings himself but was also involved in the recruitment and training of militia.
Meanwhile, Bikindi’s lawyers say that he denies all charges against him. In fact, they have taken it a step further and say that the charges violate his fundamental right to freedom of speech.
So where is that fine line between expressing an opinion and inciting ethnic hatred? When is it ok to sing about hating a particular race of people? When is it ok to encourage others to kill? Is it time to expand the scope of culpability during times of war?
*the image used in this post is a work of the US Federal Government and is in the public domain.
For those who may be slightly unsure of the term, under international law, genocide is defined as any act committed with the intent to destroy in whole or in part an ethnic, racial or religious group. This might include killing members of the group, causing serious physical or mental harm to them or deliberately imposing conditions on the group calculated to bring about its destruction.
1994 was a particularly horrific year for the people of Rwanda. Approximately 800,000 people were massacred by extremist militia, for being an ethnic “Tutsi” or moderate “Hutu”. The killings spanned over a period of 100 days and became one of the most large-scale acts of genocide and human atrocities in history.
Rwandan Genocide - bodies at a massacre site*
So how did a popular singer get caught up in all of this? Bikindi, born an extremist Hutu, is accused of inciting genocide at the time through the lyrics of his popular music. The prosecution alleges that Bikindi’s music, which flooded mainstream Rwandan culture, encouraged youths and others to join Interahamwe militia who were responsible for carrying out a significant number of the 1994 killings.
Further, it is alleged that Bikindi not only participated in the killings himself but was also involved in the recruitment and training of militia.
Meanwhile, Bikindi’s lawyers say that he denies all charges against him. In fact, they have taken it a step further and say that the charges violate his fundamental right to freedom of speech.
So where is that fine line between expressing an opinion and inciting ethnic hatred? When is it ok to sing about hating a particular race of people? When is it ok to encourage others to kill? Is it time to expand the scope of culpability during times of war?
*the image used in this post is a work of the US Federal Government and is in the public domain.
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