Germany court sentences Rwandan man to life for massacre

BERLIN

A regional court in Germany sentenced Tuesday a Rwandan citizen to life for his role in a genocide in his country in 1994.

Onesphore Rwabukombe, former mayor of Muvumba, was found guilty of deliberately taking part in the planning and execution of the massacre that killed at least 400 Tutsis in the Kabarondo church.

The sentence issued by the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt carries no possibility of parole.

Rwabukombe first came to Germany in 2002 as a refugee and has been under arrest since 2010.

He was already convicted last year and sentenced to 14-year prison for aiding and abetting genocide but the verdict was overturned by Germany’s Federal Court of Justice, which found the sentence inadequate.

German laws allow the prosecution of genocide and war crimes by courts in the country irrespective of the nationalities of the suspects and the place these crimes are committed.

Between April and July of 1994, Hutu extremists in Rwanda attempted to wipe out the Tutsi minority. Many Hutus who tried to defend the Tutsis -- along with those who opposed the genocide -- were also killed. At least 800 thousand people were murdered.

BERLIN

A regional court in Germany sentenced Tuesday a Rwandan citizen to life for his role in a genocide in his country in 1994.

Onesphore Rwabukombe, former mayor of Muvumba, was found guilty of deliberately taking part in the planning and execution of the massacre that killed at least 400 Tutsis in the Kabarondo church.

The sentence issued by the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt carries no possibility of parole.

Rwabukombe first came to Germany in 2002 as a refugee and has been under arrest since 2010.

German laws allow the prosecution of genocide and war crimes by courts in the country irrespective of the nationalities of the suspects and the place these crimes are committed.