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Mayor guilty of church massacre
13/04/2006 19:31 - (SA)
Sukhdev Chhatbar
Arusha -A United Nations court sentenced a former Rwandan mayor to 15 years' imprisonment for his role in the deaths of 1 000 people in the country's 1994 genocide on Thursday.
The international criminal tribunal for Rwanda found Paul Bisengimina guilty of crimes against humanity.
The UN court had accepted a plea bargain - Bisengimina, 58, pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and extermination and the prosecution dropped eight other charges.
The court took four years off Bisengimina's 15-year sentence for the time he had spent in pre-trial detention.
Bisengimina was mayor of Gikoro, a town just outside the capital, Kigali.
He pleaded guilty to involvement in the slaughter of 1 000 Tutsis who had sought refuge in a church.
Presiding judge Arlette Ramaroson said: "The accused was present at Musha church and knew his presence would encourage the killings of civilians, especially Tutsi refugees
At least 500 000 were killed
"Bisengimana also knew weapons were distributed to attack the refugees who had sought shelter at the church."
More than 500 000 people were killed in government-orchestrated massacres in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Most of the victims were Tutsis. Some were politically moderate Hutus.
Bisengimana was arrested in Mali in 2001.
He was transferred to the UN court, based in northern Tanzania, for trial in 2002.
The Rwandan government's special representative to the UN court said he was satisfied with the sentencing.
What was more encouraging, he said, was Bisengimina's guilty plea.
- AP
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