15.12.09 - RWANDA/GACACA - NONCOMMISSIONED OFFICER SENTENCED TO 19 YEARS IN JAIL

15 December 2009 By

Kigali, December 15, 2009 (FH) - A noncommissioned officer of the former Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR), warrant officer François Musabyimana, was sentenced to 19 years in prison after being found guilty of complicity in the killings of Tutsis who had sought shelter in two churches in Eastern Rwanda.

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The Gacaca court of Kayumba, in the district of Nyamata, concluded that Musabyimana, 51, ordered his men to encircle Nyamata's church and kill the 5,000 Tutsis who had taken refuge inside.

He was also found guilty for the complicity in the killings of thousands of Tutsis sheltered in Ntarama's church, in the same area.

After the rout of government troops in July 1994, Musabyimana sought asylum in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). A year later he came back to Rwanda and joined the new Rwandan Army (FPR). Since then, he had been working at the Headquarters' personnel division.

SRE/ER/GF