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France sentences a former doctor to 27 years in prison in a genocide trial in Rwanda

France sentences a former doctor to 27 years in prison in a genocide trial in Rwanda

A French court sentenced a former Rwandan doctor to 27 years in prison for crimes related to the 1994 genocide in his country.

Eugene Rwamucyo was found guilty of complicity in genocide, complicity in crimes against humanity and conspiracy to prepare for those crimes.

Rwamucyo – acquitted of charges of genocide and crimes against humanity – denies any accusations. Local media reported that his lawyers announced that they intended to appeal.

His trial was France’s eighth over the 1994 genocide in which the majority Hutus killed about 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis.

Prosecutor’s lawyer Nicolas Peron said there was no evidence to show that Rwamucyo personally carried out summary executions or used torture.

However, he said that the 65-year-old should not “shirk his duties” because he could “kill with words.”

Prosecutors accused Rwamucyo, born into a Hutu family, of spreading anti-Tutsi propaganda.

They also cited witness statements accusing him of helping bury victims in mass graves “in a final attempt to destroy evidence of genocide.”

The prosecutor’s office demanded a sentence of 30 years in prison, while the representatives of the survivors asked for life imprisonment.

Angélique Uwamahoro, who was 13 years old during the genocide, said she saw Rwamucyo at a roadblock in the city of Butare and heard him encouraging militiamen to kill the Tutsi population, according to the Associated Press.

“He wanted to get them to kill us so that we wouldn’t escape alive,” she said.

However, Rwamucyo told the court: “I assure you that I neither ordered the killing of the survivors nor permitted their killing.”

His lawyers argued that his participation in mass burials was out of a desire to avoid a “health crisis” that would occur if they were not buried.

They said he was wanted for opposing the current Rwandan government.

Rwamucyo was arrested in Sannois, north of Paris, in 2010 after attending the funeral of a former Rwandan official convicted of war crimes during the genocide.

In December, there was doctor Sosthene Munyeman was sentenced by a French court to 24 years in prison for crimes, including genocide and crimes against humanity. He was accused of organizing torture and killings during the genocide.