French court upholds life sentence for Rwandan former police officer over genocide
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.
“You have been the zealous arm of the genocide by your determined but also decisive action,” the president said.
“You remain an enigma for us. You have not shown regret, no denial, no introspection. You only presented yourself as the victim of a conspiracy.”
He was accused of using his powers in massacres of members of the Tutsi community in different parts of southern Rwanda former Butare prefecture, including that of former mayor of Ntyazo who had resisted the genocide in his commune.
He was also accused of ordering and supervising the erection of several roadblocks intended to control and murder Tutsi civilian and being directly involved in the field, in several massacres on Nyabubare hill, where 300 people were killed on April 23, 1994.
He was also involved in the massacre on Nyamure hill, where thousands of Tutsis had taken refuge, and the massacre at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences, where tens of thousands of victims were recorded.
Hategekimana, 67, fled to France after the genocide, where he obtained refugee status and later French citizenship in 2005 under the name Philippe Manier.
Nicknamed Biguma, 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.
