French prosecutors have requested a court in the capital, Paris, to hand a 30-year prison sentence to Dr. Eugene Rwamucyo for charges related to his role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
During the hearing, on October 28, at the Cour d'Assises de Paris, prosecutors requested court to convict Rwamucyo on charges of genocide, complicity in genocide, complicity in crimes against humanity, and conspiracy to commit these crimes.
The trial which began on October 1 is expected to conclude with a verdict on October 30.
Throughout the proceedings, multiple witnesses testified, implicating Rwamucyo in various acts during the genocide, particularly in the former Butare Prefecture, located in what is now Rwanda’s Southern Province.
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Rwamucyo and his legal team denied all charges. The genocide suspect is one of the few Rwandan nationals to be tried in France for genocide-related crimes. The 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi resulted in the deaths of over one million people.
On September 2, 2009, the Ngoma Gacaca Court in Huye District sentenced Rwamucyo to life imprisonment in absentia.
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Who is Dr. Rwamucyo
Dr. Rwamucyo, born on June 6, 1959, in Gatonde Commune, Ruhengeri Prefecture, is a specialist in occupational medicine, environmental and industrial hygiene, and toxicology.
He is suspected of being a key organiser of the genocide in southern Rwanda.
He previously worked at the University Centre for Public Health (CUSP), now the University Teaching Hospital of Butare (CHUB) in Huye District, and taught at the former National University of Rwanda.
After the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, Rwamucyo fled Rwanda. In 1995, he applied for refugee status through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Côte d’Ivoire, but his application was denied. Between 2001 and 2007, he worked in various medical roles in France.
In May 2008, he secured a position as a doctor at a city hospital in Maubeuge, northern France, near the Belgian border. However, in October 2009, he was temporarily suspended following accusations by rights group Collectif des Parties Civiles pour le Rwanda (CPCR) over his alleged role in the genocide.
In August 2007, Rwanda issued an international arrest warrant through Interpol. The CPCR initially filed a complaint against him with the Paris court in November 2007, prompting an investigation by French prosecutors in February 2008.
On May 26, 2010, Rwamucyo was arrested in Sannois, north of Paris, at the funeral of Jean Bosco Barayagwiza, a Rwandan convicted of genocide by the now-defunct International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). He was detained in Bois d’Arcy but released on September 15, 2010, after a French appeals court in Versailles rejected Rwanda’s extradition request.
The investigation into Rwamucyo’s case resumed in December 2018, leading to his indictment on April 17, 2020.