The Cour d’assises de Paris on Wednesday, October 30, sentenced Eugene Rwamucyo to 27 years in prison for his involvement in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Rwamucyo, 65, was found guilty of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, and crimes against humanity.
His trial, which commenced on October 1, concluded on Wednesday, with the court’s final ruling. The prosecution had initially requested a 30-year sentence. Throughout the trial, numerous witnesses testified, implicating Rwamucyo in atrocities carried out in the former Butare Prefecture, now located in Rwanda’s Southern Province.
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Rwamucyo and his legal team consistently denied all charges. He is among a few Rwandan nationals tried in France for crimes linked to the genocide, which led to the deaths of over one million people.
In a previous ruling, on September 2, 2009, the Ngoma Gacaca Court in Huye District had sentenced Rwamucyo to life imprisonment in absentia.
Rwamucyo was born on June 6, 1959, in Gatonde Commune, Ruhengeri Prefecture. A specialist in occupational medicine, environmental and industrial hygiene, and toxicology, he played a significant role in organizing the genocide in southern Rwanda.
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He previously served at the University Centre for Public Health (CUSP), now the University Teaching Hospital of Butare (CHUB) in Huye District, and lectured at the former National University of Rwanda. After the 1994 genocide, he fled Rwanda, applying for refugee status in Côte d'Ivoire through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in 1995, though his request was denied.
Between 2001 and 2007, he worked in various medical positions in France, securing a role at a hospital in Maubeuge, northern France, in May 2008.
However, in October 2009, he was suspended from this role following accusations from the rights group Collectif des Parties Civiles pour le Rwanda (CPCR) over his alleged involvement in the genocide.
In August 2007, Rwanda issued an international arrest warrant through Interpol. The CPCR initially lodged a complaint against Rwamucyo with the Paris court in November 2007, which led to a formal investigation by French prosecutors in February 2008.
Rwamucyo was arrested in Sannois, near Paris, on May 26, 2010, while attending the funeral of Jean Bosco Barayagwiza, another Rwandan convicted of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). He was held in Bois d’Arcy but later released on September 15, 2010, after a French appeals court in Versailles denied Rwanda’s extradition request.
The investigation into Rwamucyo resumed in December 2018, culminating in his indictment on April 17, 2020.