A French court sentenced former Rwandan physician Sosthene Munyemana to 24 years in prison on Wednesday for his role in the 1994 Tutsi genocide.
The 68-year-old ex-gynecologist was convicted of crimes against humanity, genocide, and involvement in a plot to carry out these atrocities. His attorneys stated that they intended to appeal the decision.
The public prosecutor had requested a 30-year sentence, claiming that the “sum total” of his decisions demonstrated “the traits of a genocidaire”.
Munyemana was charged with contributing to the writing of a letter endorsing the then-interim administration, which in turn aided in inciting the Tutsi slaughter.
He was also accused of helping set up roadblocks to round people up and keeping them in inhumane conditions in local government offices before they were killed in the southern Rwandan prefecture of Butare, where he lived at the time.
During the trial, Munyemana repeatedly disputed the accusations, claiming he had been a moderate Hutu who had instead tried to “save” Tutsis by offering them “refuge” in local government offices.
In 2011, a French court charged the father-of-three on suspicion of taking part in the 1994 genocide.
Munyemana was close to Jean Kambanda, the head of the interim government established after the plane carrying then-president Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down by a missile in 1994.
The trial at the Assize Court in Paris came nearly three decades after a complaint was filed against Munyemana in the southwestern French city of Bordeaux in 1995.
This is the sixth trial in France for an accused participation in the killings, where, according to UN estimates, Hutu army and extremist militias killed some 800,000 people over the course of 100 days, the majority of them were ethnic Tutsis.
One of the most popular places for people involved in the genocide in Rwanda to escape domestic punishment has been France.
Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, has charged that Paris is hesitant to extradite or prosecute genocide criminals.
Six people, including a former intelligence chief, two former mayors, and a former hotel chauffeur, have been tried and found guilty in France since 2014.
