France court jails ex-doctor in latest Rwandan genocide trial

 

Former Rwandan doctor Eugene Rwamucyo (L) accused of participation in the 1994 Tutsi genocide with his lawyers arrive at the Paris Assize Court on October 1, 2024. [AFP]

A French court on Wednesday jailed a former doctor to 27 years for his role in the Rwanda genocide, in the latest trial in France over the African country's massacre three decades ago.

Eugene Rwamucyo, 65, was accused of aiding his country's then authorities to disseminate anti-Tutsi propaganda and of participating in mass murder by attempting to destroy evidence of genocide.

Rwamucyo's trial was the eighth in France relating to the genocide in 1994 when an estimated 800,000 people -- mostly ethnic Tutsis -- were slaughtered by the Hutu majority.

The former doctor, who practised medicine in France and Belgium after leaving his country, was found guilty of complicity in genocide, complicity in crimes against humanity and conspiring to prepare those crimes.

He was acquitted of charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Prosecutors had asked for 30 years in jail.

In his final statement ahead of the verdict Rwamucyo insisted he was innocent.

"I assure you that I did not order the killing of survivors or allow survivors to be killed," Rwamucyo said.

"I understand the suffering of those who are still looking for their loved ones... but I cannot help them," he added.

- 'One can kill with words' -

Prosecuting lawyer Nicolas Peron had said Rwamucyo should be acquitted on the charge of crimes against humanity, saying there was no evidence to show Rwamucyo himself committed summary executions or acts of torture.

But he said in his closing statement the accused should not "escape his responsibilities" as "one can kill with words".

Rwamucyo, who grew up in a Hutu family, was approached by anti-Tutsi militants in the late 1980s after his return from studying in Russia, according to prosecutors, who accuse him of then spreading anti-Tutsi propaganda.

While teaching at university, he also participated in the execution of wounded patients and helped bury them in mass graves "in a final effort to destroy evidence of genocide", the prosecution said, quoting witness statements.

His lawyers say Rwamucyo denies any wrongdoing and argues the accusations are based on his opposition to the current Rwandan government.

His participation in the burial of bodies in mass graves was motivated by the wish to avoid a "health crisis" that would have occurred if they had been left out in the open, the lawyers said.

Following an international arrest warrant issued by Rwanda, Rwamucyo was detained in May 2010 by French police following a tip-off by his colleagues in the Maubeuge hospital in northern France, where he was working at the time.

"He was openly anti-Tutsi and publicly expressed his support for the genocidal government," said Emmanuel Daoud, a lawyer for LDH and FIDH, two human rights organisations who are among the plaintiffs.

In December 2023, a French court sentenced another former doctor, Sosthene Munyemana, to 24 years in prison for his involvement in the 1994 genocide.