For the first time, a French court has handed down a prison sentence for
involvement in the Rwanda genocide of 1994. Former spy chief Pascal Simbikangwa, aged 54, has been sent to gaol for
25 years.
He was found guilty of being involved in
genocide and crimes against humanity. Simbikangwa, who was paralysed in a car crash, was
arrested in 2008 while living under an alias on the French Indian Ocean island
of Mayotte.
The convicted man, who rose to be third in
command of Rwanda's intelligence services, was accused of supplying arms and issuing
instructions to Hutu militia who were manning road blocks and killing Tutsi
men, women and children as well as moderate Hutus. At least 800,000 people
perished in just 100 days.
Rwanda’s current government has long accused
France of helping in the genocide. (It was an ally of the Rwandan regime at the
time.) But now the French are investigating another two dozen cases linked to
the genocide.
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