A Paris court sentences a former Rwandan police officer to life in prison for his role in the 1994 genocide

The court considers him “a fundamental link in the execution of the genocide”

June 29 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Paris Criminal Court has sentenced this Wednesday to life imprisonment the former Rwandan police officer Philippe Manier for genocide and crimes against humanity due to his participation in the massacres of Nyabubare, Nyamure and the Isar Songa agronomy institute in 1994.

During the verdict, he was accused of playing a “determining” role in the “extermination of a dizzying number of victims,” ​​according to the Radio France Internationale (RFI) station.

In addition, the court has considered that “he did not hesitate to use weapons of war” and to use his authority as a non-commissioned officer to “turn civilians into effective executors of an atrocious plan destined to leave no survivors.”

The court has also described Manier as “a fundamental link in the execution of the genocide” and that he “betrayed” his role as protector of the population.

As the president of the court has assured, Manier has “a complex and manipulative personality”, “closed in his lies” and “unable to assume responsibility for the enormity of the crimes committed” due to his inability to “show sincere remorse”. .

Some 800,000 Rwandans, the vast majority of them Tutsi and moderate Hutu, were killed by Hutu extremists over nearly three months in 1994. Mass graves are still being discovered today, especially since convicts who have served their sentences have provided information about the place where they buried or abandoned their victims.