Former Rwandan Minister, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko became First Woman to be found guilty of Genocide

A former Rwandan Minister for women's empowerment, Pauline Nyiramasuhuko on 24 June 2011 became the first woman to be found guilty of genocide and incitement to rape by an international tribunal.

Judges at the U.N. court for Rwanda sentenced Pauline Nyiramasuhuko to life in prison for genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and rape. Nyiramasuhuko was found guilty on seven of the 11 genocide charges she faced for atrocities committed in Rwanda's southern Butare region in 1994.

Pauline Nyiramasuhuko conspired with other members of the interim government to commit genocide in Butare.

She ordered rape at the Butare prefecture office. She had superior responsibility on the Interahamwe (militia, which she ordered) to commit the rapes at the Butare prefecture.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), formed in late 1994, is currently trying the masterminds of Rwanda's genocide in which some 800000 people, essentially minority Tutsis, were killed over 100 days.

The former Minister's son, Arsene Shalom Ntahobali, who at the time of the genocide led militia groups in Butare, was also sentenced to life for crimes including genocide, extermination and rape as a crime against humanity.