German court finds Rwanda mayor guilty of assisting genocide

Source: Reuters

A German court on Tuesday sentenced a Rwandan Hutu to 14 years in jail for his role in the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994, ending Germany's first trial related to the mass killings in central Africa.

Onesphore Rwabukombe, who has lived in Germany since 2002, was a mayor in north Rwanda at the time of the genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed in 100 days.

The presiding judge at the court in Frankfurt said in his verdict that while Rwabukombe did not kill anyone, he oversaw and assisted in the murder of at least 450 men, women and children at the Kiziguro church compound in east Rwanda.

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"Germany is no safe haven for perpetrators in international law, that is the message that goes out from today's verdict," said lead prosecutor Christian Ritscher.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/18/us-rwanda-germany-trial-idUSBREA1H19B20140218