Former Rwandan Official Gets 30 Years For Genocide
By VOA News
22 June 2009
Rwanda's former interior minister has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for his role in the deaths of thousands of Tutsis during the 1994 genocide.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda sentenced Callixte Kalimanzira Monday after he was found guilty of genocide and complicity to commit genocide.
Prosecutors accused Kalimanzira of urging thousands of Tutsi civilians to take refuge at Kabuye Hill in Rwanda's Butare region, knowing that militias would kill them once they arrived there.
He was also accused of bringing in military and police reinforcements for the massacre.
Prosecutors had demanded a life sentence for the former minister.
Kalimanzira had pleaded not guilty.
Hutu militants killed an estimated 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the 1994 killing spree.
The United Nations-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has prosecuted more than 90 suspects in connection with the genocide. The U.N. Security Council has called on the tribunal to finish its work by the end of next year.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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