Kigali, Dec 19 (IANS): Rwanda has welcomed the sentencing of Philippe Hategekimana, alias Biguma, a former Deputy Commander of the Gendarmerie -- now the Rwanda National Police -- for his role in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, particularly in the Southern Province.
The Court of Appeal in France on Tuesday upheld the life sentence for Hategekimana. The appeal hearing began in early November after Hategekimana, who denied the charges, challenged the life sentence handed down by the Paris Assize Court in June 2023.
"Justice is served for the victims of the genocide committed against the Tutsi in Nyanza and the surrounding areas," Jean-Damascene Bizimana, Rwanda's minister of national unity and civic engagement, said in a post on X.
Hategekimana, 67, was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. In its ruling, the court emphasised the grave nature of his crimes, noting that his actions were instrumental in the scale of massacres in Nyanza.
"We are very happy with the court's decision that Philippe Hategekimana was convicted for his role in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. We are happy that justice has been served," Erasme Ntazinda, mayor of Nyanza District, Southern Province, told reporters at the district headquarters, Xinhua news agency reported.
The mayor added that the survivors were satisfied with the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal, which sentenced Hategekimana to life in prison after survivors testified about his involvement in the genocide.
In June 2023, a lower court sentenced Hategekimana to life imprisonment. He appealed the ruling, and during the appeal trial, testimonies from numerous witnesses implicated him in orchestrating and participating in the killings.
After the genocide, Hategekimana fled to France, where he adopted the false identity of Philippe Manier. He obtained refugee status and French citizenship in 2005. He worked as a university security guard in Rennes, a city in northwest France, but fled to Cameroon in 2017 after facing media scrutiny and a complaint filed by the France-based rights group Collectif des Parties Civiles pour le Rwanda.
Hategekimana was arrested in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon, in 2018 and extradited to France. Since 2019, he had been in custody awaiting trial.
In a related case in October, a French court sentenced former Rwandan doctor Eugene Rwamucyo to 27 years in prison for his role in the 1994 genocide.
Approximately 1 million people -- mostly members of the Tutsi community and moderate Hutus -- were killed in the genocide orchestrated by Hutu extremists during a 100-day massacre in 1994.