The Finnish Supreme Court yesterday rejected Francois Bazaramba’s appeal against a life sentence handed down to him in March by the Helsinki Appeal’s court.According to the Helsinki Appeal’s Court Bazaramba, 59, a former pastor, who has lived in Finland since 2003, was found guilty of intending to “destroy in whole or part the Rwandan Tutsi as a group.”“During the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Bazaramba spread anti-Tutsi propaganda and incited Hutus to killings through fomenting anger and contempt towards Tutsis,” the verdict reads. “This was an appeal he made after the District court of Porvoo Ita-Uusimaa on June 11, 2010 found him guilty of Genocide committed against the Tutsi at Cyahinda Church and Maraba in Nyakizu Commune in the former Butare Prefecture and convicted him to life,” the Head of the Fugitive Tracking Unit, John Bosco Siboyintore told The New Times yesterday.“With this Supreme court ruling, he has exhausted his appeal options, meaning the decision can’t be challenged any more. We are happy with this decision and call on other countries to try Genocide suspects or extradite them to face trial in Rwanda”.Bazaramba lived in the southern Finnish town of Porvoo, 30 miles (50 kilometres) east of the capital, Helsinki. He has been in police custody since April 2007.His trial opened in September 2009 in Porvoo, and several sessions were also held in Rwanda and Tanzania. During the trial, the court heard 68 witnesses.Available information indicates that the Finish Justice Ministry spent an estimated US$1.8 million on the case.
