The attraction trial of Eugène Rwamucyo, a former physician convicted in France for his function within the 1994 Genocide in opposition to the Tutsi, is about to start on June 9 earlier than the Paris Assize Court docket of Attraction (Cour d’assises d’appel de Paris).
Rwamucyo filed an attraction in opposition to a 2024 decrease court docket judgment that sentenced him to 27 years in jail. The Paris Assize Court docket discovered him responsible of complicity in genocide and complicity in crimes in opposition to humanity dedicated through the 1994 Genocide in opposition to the Tutsi.
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Throughout his first-instance trial in 2024, quite a few witnesses testified about atrocities dedicated within the former Butare Prefecture, now a part of Rwanda's Southern Province.
Born in 1959 in Northern Province, Rwamucyo educated as a doctor specialising in occupational medication, environmental and industrial hygiene, and toxicology.
Earlier than and through the genocide, he served as director of the Centre Universitaire de Santé Publique (CUSP) in Butare and lectured on the former Nationwide College of Rwanda.
Based on court docket data and witness testimonies, Rwamucyo attended conferences the place massacres have been deliberate in Butare. He was additionally accused of overseeing the burial of Tutsi victims and ordering that wounded survivors be buried or burned.
In September 2009, a gacaca court docket in Huye convicted him in absentia and sentenced him to life imprisonment for his function in organising and facilitating genocidal killings.
Following 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 utility was rejected.
He subsequently labored in a number of medical positions in France and, in 2008, secured employment at a hospital in Maubeuge. Nonetheless, in October 2009, he was suspended after allegations relating to his function within the genocide emerged.
Rwanda issued a global arrest warrant in opposition to him by way of Interpol in 2007. Across the similar interval, the Collectif des Events Civiles pour le Rwanda (CPCR), a French group pursuing justice for genocide victims, filed a criticism that led French authorities to open a judicial investigation.
On Could 26, 2010, Rwamucyo was arrested in Sannois, close to Paris, whereas attending the funeral of Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, a former senior official convicted by the Worldwide Felony Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for genocide-related crimes.
Though Rwanda sought his extradition, the Versailles Court docket of Attraction rejected the request, and he was launched from pre-trial detention on September 15, 2010.
French authorities later pursued home prosecution. In 2013, he was formally positioned underneath investigation for genocide-related crimes. In 2020, investigating judges ordered that he stand trial on prices of genocide and crimes in opposition to humanity, a call subsequently upheld by the investigation chamber in 2022.
A part of France's persevering with genocide prosecutions
Rwamucyo's attraction is the second of three genocide-related trials scheduled in France in 2026.
Earlier this yr, the attraction of Claude Muhayimana concluded with the court docket upholding his 14-year jail sentence.
The third case is predicted to be the first-instance trial of Safari Madjaliwa, scheduled from November 17 to December 18 this yr.
