A French court has sentenced ex-Rwandan doctor Sosthene Munyemana to 24 years in prison for his role in the 1994 genocide against Tutsis.
The 68-year-old ex-gynaecologist was convicted on Wednesday for genocide, crimes against humanity, and involvement in a plot to carry out these crimes.
According to his lawyers, they intend to challenge the decision.
The prosecutor had requested a 30-year sentence, stating that the collective decisions made by the individual displayed characteristics of a genocidal individual.
Munyemana was alleged to have assisted in creating a letter endorsing the temporary government, which promoted the mass killing of the Tutsi minority.
He faced allegations of aiding in the establishment of barricades to gather individuals and holding them in cruel conditions within government buildings until they were murdered in Butare, a southern province of Rwanda where he resided.
Throughout the trial, Munyemana continuously denied the allegations, stating that he was a moderate Hutu who had actually attempted to protect Tutsis by providing them with shelter in government buildings.
In 2011, a French court accused the father of three of participating in the 1994 genocide.
Munyemana was close to Jean Kambanda, the head of the interim government established after the plane carrying then-president Juvénal Habyarimana was shot down by a missile in 1994.
Nearly thirty years after a complaint was filed against Munyemana in Bordeaux, in the southwest of France, the trial at the Assize Court in Paris took place in 1995.
This is the sixth hearing in France for someone accused of being involved in the killings. Over 100 days, approximately 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis, were brutally murdered by Hutu soldiers and extremist groups, as stated by the United Nations.
France has become a popular destination for individuals involved in the Rwandan genocide to escape prosecution in their home country.
The current leader of Rwanda, President Paul Kagame, has accused Paris of lacking willingness to hand over or prosecute individuals suspected of involvement in the genocide.
From 2014 onwards, France has prosecuted and found guilty six individuals, including a previous head of espionage, two former mayors, and a former driver for a hotel.
Source: theguardian.com
