Georges Ruggiu

Georges Henri Yvon Joseph Ruggiu (born 12 October 1957) is a Belgian radio presenter who worked for Rwandan radio station Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines, which played a significant role in promoting the genocide against the Tutsi. Like the station's other broadcasters, Ruggiu incited violence against Tutsi and moderate Hutu over the air. He had become involved in Rwandan politics just two years before the genocide. Commonly referred to as "the Muzuungu" ("white man"), Ruggiu did not speak Kinyarwanda and his segments were tailored to appeal to educated French speakers in the political and military leadership classes, not the general public. Per one study, Ruggiu would "leverage his Europeanness for credibility" during his broadcasts, and played classical music and recited Niccolò Machiavelli quotes on air. Ruggiu eventually pleaded guilty to charges of incitement to commit genocide and in 2000 was sentenced to 12 years in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Ruggiu was the only non-Rwandan charged with involvement in the genocide. He was released from prison in 2009. Ruggiu was born on 12 October 1957 in Verviers, Belgium. Ruggiu's mother was a Belgian teacher, his father an Italian fireman. Until the age of 35 he lived at home and worked in Verviers, first as "a counsellor for young drug addicts and then as a teacher for mentally handicapped children". In 1992 he moved to the city of Liège, commuting to Brussels to work in a social security office. In Liège he "befriended a Rwandan Hutu, was drawn into the Rwandan expatriate community and was soon seen in the company of Rwandan diplomats and officials of President Juvénal Habyarimana's party, the MRND". He began visiting Rwanda, and moved there in 1993. From January to July 1994, prior to and during the genocide, Ruggiu worked in Kigali, Rwanda, as a journalist and producer for Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM). Ruggiu had no experience in journalism and did not speak Kinyarwanda, the indigenous language of Rwanda.