Summary This article is a commentary on the judgment of the First Instance Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) ruled on 2 September 1998 against Akayesu, the mayor of Taba, Rwanda. This is the first judgment issued by the ICTR, the first international court to convict a person for the crime of genocide, a­nd the first to interpret the definition a­nd requirements of the crime in the Convention on the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) as adopted by Article 2(2) of the ICTR Statute.