By George Obulutsa

DAR ES SALAAM, Dec 2 (Reuters) - A U.N. court trying the masterminds of Rwanda's 1994 genocide gave a 15-year jail sentence on Tuesday to a famous musician who used a public address system to incite the killing of ethnic Tutsis.

The Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) found Simon Bikindi, 54, guilty of direct and public incitement to commit genocide.

It said that towards the end of June 1994 in Gisenyi prefecture, Bikindi broadcast messages from a speaker on his car asking the majority Hutu to rise up and kill Tutsis.

On a second drive along the same road, he asked if people had been killing the "snakes".

"Direct and Public Incitement to Commit Genocide is a crime of the most serious gravity which affects the very foundations of our society and shocks the conscience of humanity," the ICTR said in its judgement.

"The Chamber sentences you, Simon Bikindi, to 15 years imprisonment."

Bikindi was arrested in the Netherlands in 2001 before being transferred to Arusha in north Tanzania for trial. The court said he would be credited for time already spent in detention.

It acquitted him of five other charges including genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and murder.

During Rwanda's 100 days of slaughter, 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.

Bikindi, who was a composer as well as singer of both traditional and modern Rwandan music, performed with the Irindiro Ballet band. He also had a post in the sports ministry.

ICTR's prosecution had accused him of composing music aimed at encouraging genocide. But the judgement found no proof of that, nor of encouraging radio stations to play his songs.

Bikindi was also accused of helping recruit the infamous Hutu "Interahamwe" militia and collaborating with then-President Juvenal Habyarimana to launch privately owned Radio Mille Collines, which was used to spread anti-Tutsi messages.

But the court said that while Bikindi was a minor shareholder in the radio station, there was insufficient proof he influenced the station's choice to play his music.

Since it began work in 1997, the court has delivered 34 judgements. Five of them were acquittals.

The court has until the end of the year to wind up its activities and until 2010 to hear all appeals. The U.N. General Assembly is discussing whether to extend its mandate.

ICTR's critics, including Rwanda, have accused the court of being inefficient, costly and slow. (Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

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