A Paris court on Wednesday found a former Rwandan military policeman guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1994 Rwandan genocide and sentenced him to life in prison.
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The court said it had found Philippe Hategekimana, 66, guilty of nearly all the charges against him.
After the genocide, he fled to France, granted refugee status, and then took French citizenship under the name Philippe Manier.
Harte Gkimana’s trial began last month, the fifth of its kind in France for alleged involvement in the massacre.
According to United Nations figures, more than 800,000 people were killed between April and July 1994, most of them from the Tutsi minority.
The plaintiffs allege Hartjimana “used the power and military force his rank conferred on him … to engage in genocide.”
He has denied the allegations.
France, one of the top destinations for Holocaust fugitives, has tried and convicted a former spy chief, two former mayors, a former hotel driver and a former senior official in similar trials since 2014.
But it has generally rejected requests to extradite the suspects to Rwanda, prompting President Paul Kagame to accuse Paris of denying Rwanda jurisdiction.
(AFP)