French court upholds life sentence for Rwandan former police officer over genocide

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - The French Court of Appeal Tuesday upheld a life sentence for a Rwandan former military police officer for his role in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi ethnic group in Rwanda, a plaintiffs’ lawyer said.

Philippe Hategekimana, a former deputy military police commander was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity, Richard Gisagara, a Rwandan lawyer who represented genocide survivors in the case told reporters.

The appeal hearing started in early November, after Hategekimana who denied the charges, challenged the life jail term handed to him by the Paris Assize Court in June 2023.

He was accused of using his powers in massacres of members of the Tutsi community in different parts of southern Rwanda during the genocide.

Hategekimana, 67, fled to France after the genocide, where he obtained refugee status and later French citizenship in 2005 under the name Philippe Manier.

Hategekimana fled to the West African country of Cameroon in 2017. However, he was arrested in 2018 and extradited to France.

In October, a French court handed a Rwandan former doctor Eugene Rwamucyo 27 years in prison for his role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

About 1 million people, most of them members of the Tutsi community and moderate Hutus, were killed in the genocide by Hutu extremists during a massacre within a span of 100 days.