Former Rwandan doctor sentenced to 24 years in French court for involvement in 1994 genocide

A former doctor from Rwanda has been sentenced to 24 years in prison by a French court for his involvement in the 1994 genocide. Sosthene Munyemana was found guilty of crimes including genocide and crimes against humanity. It took French prosecutors 28 years to bring this case to trial. Munyemana, who was a gynaecologist in Butare during the genocide, was accused of organizing torture and killings. He allegedly set up roadblocks to round people up and kept them in inhumane conditions before they were killed. Munyemana was also accused of drafting a letter that encouraged the massacre of Tutsis. The majority of those killed in the genocide were Tutsis and opponents of the Hutu government. Throughout the trial, Munyemana denied the accusations against him, claiming to be a moderate Hutu trying to save Tutsis. The judge stated that Munyemana was part of a group that orchestrated the genocide. After moving to France in 1994, Munyemana worked as a doctor and recently retired. A complaint was filed against him in Bordeaux in 1995. Munyemana was closely associated with Jean Kambanda, who is serving a life sentence for his role in the genocide. The genocide began after the death of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, which initiated a campaign of retribution by the presidential guard and led to the mass killings of Tutsis and moderate Hutus. It resulted in the deaths of 800,000 people within 100 days.