Simon Bikindi

Simon Bikindi (born 28 September 1954) is a Rwandan singer-songwriter who was formerly very popular in Rwanda. His patriotic songs were playlist staples on the national radio station Radio Rwanda during the war from October 1990 to July 1994 before the Rwandan Patriotic Front took power. He was tried and convicted for incitement to genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in 2008.

Bikindi, an ethnic Hutu, was born in Rwerere in the northwestern prefecture of Gisenyi, the same region from which President Habyarimana and many of the key figures in his MRND regime originated.

At the time of the genocide, he was a "well-known composer and singer of popular music and director of the performance group Irindiro Ballet." His songs were described as having "elliptical lyrics and catchy tunes", mixing English, French and Kinyarwanda and combining rap-style texts with traditional folk song melodies. His first cassette, released in 1990, was of traditional wedding songs. He was additionally a civil servant of the Ministry of Youth and Sport and a member of the MRND party.

Some of his songs directed against the Tutsi were played on Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines to incite killings. He left the country a few days before the beginning of the genocide, but returned later in June. It is a matter of debate whether and to what extent he participated in the genocide as such, but according to the ruling of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), it is proved beyond reasonable doubt that he was associated with the extremist Interahamwe militia and publicly urged Hutus to exterminate all Tutsis in June 1994. After the RPF takeover, he fled the country. His songs are banned in Rwanda since 1994.