After almost five weeks of trial and eleven hours of deliberation, another Rwandan was tried in France , 30 years after the extermination of the Tutsi . Former Rwandan doctor Eugène Rwamucyo was sentenced on Wednesday, October 30, by the Paris Assize Court to 27 years of criminal imprisonment.
The court found him guilty of complicity in genocide and participation in a conspiracy to prepare genocide , complicity in crimes against humanity and participation in a conspiracy to prepare these crimes. He was acquitted of charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.
When the verdict was announced, Eugène Rwamucyo turned towards his family and friends gathered in the courtroom before being escorted by gendarmes to be taken into custody.
“We are with you!” one of his daughters shouted at him. “Shame on French justice,” shouted a woman as she addressed the court as they left the courtroom.
“This is a verdict that is not acceptable to Eugène Rwamucyo, delivered at the end of a hearing that was not conducted in a manner worthy of the historic trial that it should have been,” reacted his lawyer, Philippe Meilhac, who announced his intention to appeal.
“It is crucial that the fugitive genocidaires realise that even 30 years after the genocide of the Tutsi, justice has the power to catch up with them. I hope that the efforts of the French justice system will continue to judge the suspects who reside in this country,” Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe told AFP.
Hate speech and mass graves
On Monday, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) requested thirty years of criminal imprisonment against Eugène Rwamucyo so that he “does not escape his responsibilities”.
For the magistrates, the accused’s motive was clear: “his ambition and his fascination with political power.”
The former doctor and teacher at the University of Butare was accused of having supported and relayed the slogans of the Hutu authorities inciting the population to attack the Tutsi minority, notably during a speech on 14 May 1994 in the presence of Jean Kambada, Prime Minister of the interim government.
Eugène Rwamucyo was also accused of participating in the burial of victims in mass graves “in a last-ditch effort to suppress evidence of genocide.”
Throughout the trial, the defendant has disputed the charges, saying he buried the bodies to avoid adding a health crisis to the unfolding disaster. “I assure you that I did not order the survivors to be finished off or allow survivors to be killed,” he said Wednesday morning before the court adjourned to deliberate.
“By burying the bodies, he allowed the genocide to continue, he was an actor and that is what matters to us,” declared Me Mathilde Aublé, lawyer for the Ibuka association, a civil party in the trial.
Eighth Rwandan tried in France in this context
“It seems to me to be a complex but fair decision which does justice to the victims,” added his colleague Louis Falgas.
Alain Gauthier, president of the Collective of Civil Parties for Rwanda (CPCR), welcomed “a satisfactory verdict even if the conviction comes 17 years after the complaint was filed.”
Targeted by an international arrest warrant issued by Rwanda, Eugène Rwamucyo was arrested by the French authorities on May 26, 2010, a few months after being reported by his colleagues at the Maubeuge hospital, where he worked.
Between April and July 1994, more than 800,000 people were killed according to the UN, mainly from the Tutsi minority.
Eugène Rwamucyo, 65, was the eighth Rwandan to be tried in France for crimes linked to the Tutsi genocide.
On December 20, 2023, another Rwandan doctor, Sosthène Munyemana, was sentenced to 24 years of criminal imprisonment , with a security period of 8 years, for genocide and crimes against humanity. He has appealed this sentence.
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