A Parisian court is set to announce its verdict on Wednesday regarding Eugène Rwamucyo, a 65-year-old former physician from Rwanda, who stands accused of participating in the horrific genocide that devastated his homeland in 1994. The prosecution is advocating for a hefty sentence of 30 years behind bars, highlighting charges of genocide, conspiracy, and crimes against humanity. Rwamucyo, however, maintains his innocence.
Witnesses from around the globe have gathered to testify throughout a four-week trial, recounting chilling and vivid memories of the slaughter in the Butare region where Rwamucyo was active during the atrocities. This trial marks the seventh related to the Rwandan genocide to unfold in Paris over the last decade. During the brutal massacres, more than 800,000 members of the Tutsi minority and moderate Hutus who attempted to shield them were exterminated by Hutu extremist factions, supported by governmental forces.
Angélique Uwamahoro, who was only 13 during the genocide, expressed her determination to seek justice for those who perished due to their identity. Uwamahoro recalled seeing Rwamucyo—her mother’s physician—at a convent that became a refuge for her family during a massacre. Tragically, several of her relatives were among the slain. In her testimony, she recounted witnessing Rwamucyo at a roadblock in Butare, allegedly urging militiamen to kill Tutsis: “He incited them to ensure we did not escape alive,” she asserted.
Other witnesses recounted the grim reality of mass graves, with some describing scenes of survivors forced to bury their fellow victims, and harrowing accounts of wounded individuals being interred while still alive. The prosecution has accused Rwamucyo of disseminating anti-Tutsi propaganda and overseeing operations to conceal the bodies in mass graves. Rwamucyo has defended his actions, claiming that his involvement in the burials was solely driven by “hygiene-related” concerns and vehemently denied the allegations of live burials.
His arrest came in 2010, in a suburb north of Paris, where he was practicing medicine in a hospital after relocating to France. He was apprehended while attending the funeral of Jean Bosco Baravagwiza, a figure implicated in orchestrating the genocide and later convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 2003. This case follows the conviction of another doctor, Sosthene Munyemana, in December of the previous year. He was sentenced to 24 years for similar crimes, although he has since appealed his sentence. As the trial concludes, the world will watch closely for the court’s decision on Rwamucyo’s fate.
