Rwanda
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · Capital crimes are: murder, robbery, sorcery, offenses...
- News items in the archive
- 141
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Rwanda is classified as Abolitionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 141 news items on Rwanda, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- DECEMBER 31, 2002RwandaDEATH PENALTY
The Rwandan League for the Promotion and Defence of...
The Rwandan League for the Promotion and Defence of Human Rights said that fifteen Rwandans had been sentenced to death in the last three months of 2002 for their role in the 1994 genocide
- NOVEMBER 10, 2002RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Rwandan delegates who reviewed the country's pre-draft...
Rwandan delegates who reviewed the country's pre-draft constitution in a national constitutional conference over the weekend rejected a proposal to abolish the death penalty
- JUNE 11, 2002RwandaDEATH PENALTY
The long-awaited trials to be conducted by Gacaca courts...
The long-awaited trials to be conducted by Gacaca courts - an adapted form of Rwandan traditional participatory justice - are to begin on 18 June to deal with the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide, in which Hutu extremists in the country killed some 800,0
- MAY 21, 2002RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Rwandan-backed rebels in the Democratic Republic of...
Rwandan-backed rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo are still arresting and executing suspected dissidents a week after a mutiny in the rebel-held eastern city of Kisangani, a U
- MAY 21, 2002RwandaDEATH PENALTY
RCD-Goma authorities denied they executed soldiers...
RCD-Goma authorities denied they executed soldiers and policemen arrested during the mutiny in Kisangani - the Congolese town under the RCD-Goma (Congolese Rally for Democracy, supported by Rwanda) and accused the Kinshasa government of waging a campaign
- APRIL 22, 2002RwandaDEATH PENALTY
President Paul Kagame objected to investigations by...
President Paul Kagame objected to investigations by the Arusha war crimes tribunal prosecutor against members of RPA for alleged crimes against humanity
- MARCH 31, 2002RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Four people were sentenced to death by the Nyamata...
Four people were sentenced to death by the Nyamata court of first instance in the joint trial of 74 people charged with involvement in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and other crimes against humanity
- JANUARY 20, 2002RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Two people were sentenced to death in a joint trial...
Two people were sentenced to death in a joint trial of 23 suspects of genocide and other crimes against humanity, committed in the former Gungu Sector [phonetic] of Rwanda
- JANUARY 1, 2002RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Capital crimes are: murder, robbery, sorcery, offenses...
Capital crimes are: murder, robbery, sorcery, offenses against the State and crimes against humanity
- JANUARY 1, 2002RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Rwandan courts issued 74 death sentences in the first...
Rwandan courts issued 74 death sentences in the first six months of 2001, according to Amnesty International
- DECEMBER 21, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Rwandan President Paul Kagame said he will not sign...
Rwandan President Paul Kagame said he will not sign into law a controversial press bill which advocates death penalty for journalists inciting genocide
- DECEMBER 11, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
A Rwandan national court in Kibungo Province recently...
A Rwandan national court in Kibungo Province recently tried Immanuel Habimana alias 'Cyasa' and 32 others were for genocide
- NOVEMBER 28, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Two former administrative officials have been sentenced...
Two former administrative officials have been sentenced to death by a tribunal of Cyangugu (South-west)
- NOVEMBER 9, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
A Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders...
A Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders - RSF) delegation visited Rwanda between 2 and 10 October 2001, to examine the country's press freedom situation, and in particular the new press law, passed on 28 September 2001 by parliament
- OCTOBER 14, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
A court in Gikongoro [southern Rwanda] sentenced five...
A court in Gikongoro [southern Rwanda] sentenced five people to death and seven to life imprisonment
- OCTOBER 8, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Courts in Kigali have tried and sentenced to death...
Courts in Kigali have tried and sentenced to death at least 500 of the bigger fish in the genocide case
- OCTOBER 4, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
In a unique experiment in grassroots justice, millions...
In a unique experiment in grassroots justice, millions of Rwandans went to the polls to elect the 260,000 men and women who will preside over the community courts that judge thousands of suspected perpetrators of the genocide of 1994
- SEPTEMBER 27, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
In the first six months of 2001 Rwandan courts sentenced...
In the first six months of 2001 Rwandan courts sentenced 74 people to death for their part in the 1994 mass killing of Tutsi and politically moderate Hutus, a Rwandan human rights said
- SEPTEMBER 24, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Rwandan journalists advised government to establish...
Rwandan journalists advised government to establish a law that provides for freedom of the press in order to avoid conflict, the president of Rwanda Journalist Association (ARJ), James Vuningoma, said
- AUGUST 8, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Former Rwandan mayor Jean Mpambara pleaded not guilty...
Former Rwandan mayor Jean Mpambara pleaded not guilty to genocide before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)
- AUGUST 1, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Colonel Peter Habimana, leader of the [rebel] Rwandan...
Colonel Peter Habimana, leader of the [rebel] Rwandan Liberation Army, was sentenced to death together with another 14 defendants found guilty of involvement in the 1994 genocide
- JULY 11, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
The Hirondelle news agency reported that eleven people...
The Hirondelle news agency reported that eleven people were sentenced to death for involvement in Rwanda's 1994 genocide by a court in Gikongoro, southwest Rwanda
- JUNE 25, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Rwanda has appointed a legal reform commission to examine...
Rwanda has appointed a legal reform commission to examine all existing laws in the country as part of an ongoing preparation for a change of government through elections in 2003
- JUNE 16, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Rwanda's justice minister said that a Rwandan court...
Rwanda's justice minister said that a Rwandan court sentenced nine ethnic Hutus to death at a mass trial for more than 100 suspects accused of involvement in the country's 1994 genocide
- MAY 26, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
A court in the northwestern Rwandan town of Gisenyi...
A court in the northwestern Rwandan town of Gisenyi sentenced ten ethnic Hutus to death on charges of genocide and other crimes against humanity committed in the town in 1994
- APRIL 12, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Leon Mugesera, 47, an alleged Rwandan war criminal,...
Leon Mugesera, 47, an alleged Rwandan war criminal, temporarily won his appeal against deportation from Canada on but still faces human rights charges here against the ethnic Tutsi minority in his homeland
- APRIL 4, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Rwanda will apply a new justice system before the end...
Rwanda will apply a new justice system before the end of 2001
- MARCH 3, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Five Rwandans accused of genocide and other crimes...
Five Rwandans accused of genocide and other crimes against humanity committed in 1994 have been sentenced to death by the western Ruhengeri court in the country
- FEBRUARY 24, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
The Ruhengeri court of first instance sentenced five...
The Ruhengeri court of first instance sentenced five people to death on charges related to acts of genocide and crimes against humanity in the Gipuri and Nyamutera communes during the 1994 genocide
- JANUARY 1, 2001RwandaDEATH PENALTY
Rwandan courts issued 74 death sentences in the first...
Rwandan courts issued 74 death sentences in the first six months of 2001, according to Amnesty International