18 Facts About Simon Bikindi

Simon Bikindi was a Rwandan musician and singer who was prominent in Rwanda during the 1980s and 1990s.

Simon Bikindi died of diabetes at a Beninese hospital in December 2018.

Simon Bikindi was additionally a civil servant of the Ministry of Youth and Sport and a member of the MRND party.

Simon Bikindi was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Simon Bikindi was charged with the following: conspiracy to commit genocide; genocide, or alternatively complicity in genocide; direct and public incitement to commit genocide, and murder and persecution, as crimes against humanity.

The indictment stated that Simon Bikindi "composed, sang, recorded or distributed musical works extolling Hutu solidarity and accusing Tutsis of enslaving Hutus".

The prosecution claimed that during the 100 days of genocide from 7 April to 14 July 1994, Simon Bikindi participated personally in the killings, both in Kigali and Gisenyi prefecture, and helped to recruit and organise Interahamwe militias.

Simon Bikindi subsequently entered a plea of not guilty to all the charges against him and was imprisoned at the United Nations Detention Facility in Arusha, Tanzania.

Simon Bikindi was represented by the chairman of the Kenyan section of the International Commission of Jurists, Wilfred Ngunjiri Nderitu.

The defence argued that there were contradictions in the witness testimonies, denying that the songs were about Tutsis and invoking Tutsi witnesses whom Simon Bikindi had allegedly "helped to save their lives".

Simon Bikindi's lawyer argued that to accuse Simon Bikindi is "to deny him his right of expression".

The chief counsel of the defence agreed with the prosecution's accusation, which caused Simon Bikindi to refuse to be represented by him any further.

The prosecution team in Simon Bikindi's trial asked for a life sentence, the most severe punishment the court gives.

In December 2008, Simon Bikindi was sentenced to 15 years in prison with credit for 7 years already served, for incitement to commit genocide.

All the other charges were dismissed; in particular, the court considered that while some songs had an inciting character, they had all been written before 1994, thus before the genocide, and that there was not sufficient evidence to prove that Simon Bikindi had played a role in the dissemination of his songs on radio during the genocide, or that he had personally engaged in killings or organising of militias.

At the time of the genocide, Simon Bikindi had a relationship with Angeline Mukabanana, a Tutsi.

Simon Bikindi cited the fact that Bikindi had adopted her son, who had a Tutsi father, and had helped their Tutsi neighbours against Hutu murderers.

Mukabanana claimed that after Simon Bikindi wrote "I hate these Hutus", she asked him why he had written that and pointed out the possibility of the RPF's winning the war.