Verdict in France: 24 years in prison for doctor from Rwanda for genocide
His lawyers immediately announced their intention to appeal. The former gynecologist, who has lived in the southwest of France since 1994, has denied all charges. The public prosecutor's office had demanded 30 years in prison.
Munyemana is said to have been close to the Rwandan interim government, which had called for the mass murder of the Tutsi ethnic group in 1994. According to the prosecution, he had taken part in a meeting at which roadblocks were decided at which Tutsi were arrested in order to kill them later.
Munyemana also had the key to an office in which several members of the Tutsi ethnic group were locked up for days in undignified conditions before being killed. The accused, however, had stated that he had been a moderate Hutu and had not wanted to imprison those under threat, but to hide and save them.
Around 800,000 people were killed in the genocide in Rwanda between April and July 1994, most of them from the Tutsi ethnic group, but also moderate Hutu. The trial against Munyemana was the sixth trial in France against suspected accomplices to the genocide. Before the former doctor, six men - three high-ranking officials, a military officer, a gendarme and a driver - were sentenced in France to between 14 years and life imprisonment for their involvement in the genocide.
Also on Tuesday, two men from Rwanda were found guilty in a genocide trial in the Belgian capital Brussels. The 76-year-old Pierre Basabosé is said to have been one of the financiers of the Hutu militia Interahamwe in Rwanda, which played a central role in the genocide.
The 66-year-old Séraphin Twahirwa is said to have commanded an Interahamwe unit in Kigali, which is alleged to have committed dozens of murders. He is also accused of raping Tutsi women.
The two men have now been found guilty of war crimes and genocide. The sentence is to be announced soon. The men are facing life imprisonment.
Read also:
- This will change in December
- Attacks on ships in the Red Sea: shipping companies avoid important trade route
- Houthi rebels want to launch further attacks despite international coalition
- USA forms military coalition against Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea
Source: www.stern.de
