Former Rwandan Doctor Receives 24-Year Jail Term in France for 1994 Genocide Role
Sosthene Munyemana, a former Rwandan doctor, has been sentenced to 24 years in a French court for his involvement in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
He was found guilty of crimes, including genocide and crimes against humanity, after being accused of organizing torture and killings during the genocide, which claimed the lives of 800,000 people.
The French prosecutors took 28 years to bring the case to trial.
Munyemana, who moved to France in 1994, worked as a gynecologist in southern Rwanda during the genocide. He was accused of setting up roadblocks, rounding up people, and keeping them in inhumane conditions before their execution. Prosecutors also claimed he drafted a letter justifying the massacre of Tutsis.
Throughout the trial, Munyemana contested the accusations, stating he was a moderate Hutu trying to protect Tutsis by offering them refuge. The judge, however, declared Munyemana as part of a group that “prepared, organized, and steered the genocide of the Tutsis on a daily basis.”
After moving to France in 1994, Munyemana lived in the country’s southwest, working as a doctor until his recent retirement.
A complaint was filed against him in Bordeaux in 1995. Munyemana was a close associate of Jean Kambanda, who is serving a life sentence in Mali for his role in the genocide.
The 1994 genocide in Rwanda was triggered by the death of President Juvenal Habyarimana.
While the exact perpetrators remain unknown, the event led to a wave of retribution, resulting in the massacre of Tutsis and moderate Hutus within 100 days.
Credit: [BBC](source link below)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67770646