The Paris Assize Court docket of Attraction has upheld a 27-year jail sentence towards Dr. Eugène Rwamucyo for his position within the 1994 Genocide towards the Tutsi, confirming his conviction for conspiracy to commit genocide, complicity in genocide, and complicity in crimes towards humanity.
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The courtroom discovered Rwamucyo responsible of conspiracy to commit genocide, complicity in genocide, and complicity in crimes towards humanity, thereby affirming the judgment delivered by a decrease courtroom in October 2024.
The ruling follows an attraction trial that opened on June 9 earlier than the Paris Assize Court docket of Attraction, after Rwamucyo challenged his conviction and sentence, sustaining that he performed no position within the atrocities dedicated within the former Butare Prefecture, now a part of Southern Province.
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In the course of the attraction proceedings, survivors and different witnesses recounted the atrocities dedicated in Butare, whereas prosecutors argued that the proof clearly demonstrated Rwamucyo’s involvement in planning and facilitating the killings.
In line with courtroom information and witness testimony, Rwamucyo attended conferences the place massacres had been deliberate. He was additionally accused of supervising the burial of Tutsi victims and ordering that wounded survivors be buried alive or burned.
Earlier this week, French prosecutors requested the Paris Assize Court docket of Attraction to extend Rwamucyo’s sentence to 30 years in jail for genocide and crimes towards humanity dedicated throughout the 1994 Genocide towards the Tutsi. The request was made on July 15, because the attraction trial entered its ultimate stage. Following the prosecution’s submissions, Rwamucyo and his defence workforce introduced their ultimate arguments earlier than the courtroom delivered its verdict, finally deciding to uphold the unique 27-year sentence.
In September 2009, a Gacaca courtroom in Huye convicted Rwamucyo in absentia and sentenced him to life imprisonment for organising and facilitating genocidal killings.
After the genocide, Rwamucyo fled Rwanda and later sought refugee standing in Côte d’Ivoire by way of the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), however his software was rejected.
He subsequently moved to France, the place he held a number of medical positions. In 2008, he was employed at a hospital in Maubeuge however was suspended in October 2009 after allegations regarding his position within the genocide turned public.
Rwanda issued an Interpol Pink Discover towards him in 2007. Across the similar interval, the Collectif des Events Civiles pour le Rwanda (CPCR), a French organisation devoted to pursuing justice for victims of the Genocide towards the Tutsi, filed a criticism that prompted French authorities to open a judicial investigation.
In Might 2010, French police arrested Rwamucyo in Sannois, close to Paris, whereas he was attending the funeral of Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, a former senior official convicted by the Worldwide Felony Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) of genocide-related crimes.
Though Rwanda requested his extradition, the Versailles Court docket of Attraction rejected the request, resulting in his launch from pre-trial detention in September 2010.
French authorities subsequently opted to prosecute him domestically. In 2013, he was formally positioned below judicial investigation for genocide-related offences. In 2020, investigating judges ordered that he stand trial on expenses of genocide and crimes towards humanity, a call upheld by the investigation chamber in 2022.
