France's appeals court has confirmed a 27-year prison term for Eugène Rwamucyo, a 67-year-old former Rwandan doctor, over his involvement in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. The Paris court upheld the sentence after a six-week appeal trial that began on June 9, maintaining convictions for complicity in genocide, complicity in crimes against humanity, and participation in a criminal conspiracy. Rwamucyo was acquitted of direct charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. He was first sentenced in October 2024 and remains subject to potential life imprisonment under France's universal jurisdiction laws.
Prosecutors argued that Rwamucyo, raised in a Hutu family, was recruited by anti-Tutsi militants after returning from medical studies in Russia in the late 1980s. While teaching at a university, he allegedly spread anti-Tutsi propaganda, participated in the killing of wounded patients, and helped conceal bodies in mass graves "in a final effort to destroy evidence of genocide," according to witness statements cited by the prosecution. His legal team maintains he is innocent, asserting the case stems from his political opposition to Rwanda's current government. A judicial source confirmed the appeals decision was delivered late Friday into Saturday.
The court reaffirmed Rwamucyo's role in supporting genocide through propaganda and concealment, not direct killings. His sentence, though substantial, stops short of life imprisonment despite France's capacity to impose it. The distinction between complicity and direct perpetration remains central to his legal outcome.
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