A 68-year-old black doctor was sentenced to 24 years in Paris for his row in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. Sosthene Munyemana admitted that he participated in a local night patrol group that was organized to track down Tutsi people. After identifying this group detained beat, killed, and tortured, Tutsi civilians.

How did this all start

In 1932 under Belgium’s rule. Identification cards were introduced to distinguish the difference between Tutsi and Hutsi people. This created tension between the two groups. The Tutsi population was smaller but commanded more wealth and was generally more successful than the Hutus In 1959 an uprising led to a civil war which ended the Tutsi domination. In 1962 Rwanda gained independence from Belgium and by this time, over 120 thousand Rwandans (mostly Tutsi) fled the country, and Hutu leadership took control of the country.

On April 6, 1994, a rocket missile attack killed Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, plane as he returned from a peace negotiation meeting. Immediately afterward 100 days of mass killing endured throughout the country and left over 800,000 Rwandan citizens brutally slaughtered. This Mass killing left over 75% of the Tutsi population dead.

After the Genocide Sosthene Munyemana went to France where he continued his career as a doctor. He lived there until he was arrested 28 years later. Munyemana was the 6th person arrested for war crimes in Rwanda. However, he’s been free to go back and forth to fight these charges and remains free as he appeals his conviction.