A French court has sentenced Sosthene Munyemana, a former Rwandan doctor, to 24 years in prison for his role in the 1994 genocide. Munyemana was found guilty on Wednesday of genocide, crimes against humanity, and participation in a conspiracy to prepare for these crimes.
The 68-year-old former gynaecologist was accused of aiding the interim government by drafting a letter that supervised the killings of Tutsis. Additionally, he was alleged to have participated in meetings organizing the roundup of Tutsi civilians in the southern Rwandan prefecture of Butare, where he resided at the time.
Munyemana, who relocated to France a few months after the genocide, maintained his innocence, and his legal team plans to appeal the verdict. The public prosecutor had sought a 30-year sentence during the six-week-long trial at the Assize Court in Paris.
In a separate case in Brussels, two Rwandans, Séraphin Twahirwa and Pierre Basabosé, were found guilty on Tuesday of genocide and war crimes committed in Rwanda. The court concluded that they had committed multiple murders and attempted murders of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Kigali between April and July 1994. Their sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday.
