Protais Zigiranyirazo (born 2 February 1938) commonly known as Monsieur Zed ("Mr. Z"), is a Rwandan businessman and politician and was governor of the Ruhengeri prefecture in northwestern Rwanda from 1974 to 1989.
Zigiranyirazo was a member of the Akazu, an elite circle of relatives and friends of former President Juvénal Habyarimana who pushed the Hutu Power ideology.
An ethnic Hutu, Zigiranyirazo was the brother of Agathe Kanziga and brother-in-law of President Juvénal Habyarimana, who came to power in Rwanda in the Coup d'état of 5 July 1973.
The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) accused Zigiranyirazo of committing crimes during the months of the genocide in 1994, alleging that he "ordered or authorized roadblocks to be established in direct proximity to each of his three residences ... knowing and intending that they would be used in the campaign of extermination and killing.
On 18 December 2008, Trial Chamber III, composed of Judges Inés Mónica Weinberg de Roca of Argentina, Khalida Rashid Khan of Pakistan, and Lee Gacuiga Muthoga of Kenya, convicted Zigiranyirazo of genocide and extermination as crimes against humanity and sentenced him to twenty years imprisonment.
[5] On 16 November 2009, the conviction was overturned by the Appeal Chamber of the ICTR, which acquitted Zigiranyirazo on all charges, finding that the court had made serious errors in its initial judgement, and ordering his immediate release.