Following an almost three-decade enquiry, a former gynaecologist from Rwanda is accused of genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1994 killings in his native country. The trial of the Rwandan national began on Tuesday in France.
Sosthene Munyemana has been the subject of one of France’s longest-running legal proceedings; he first appeared before the Assize Court in the French capital almost thirty years after a complaint was brought against him in the city of Bordeaux in the south-west of the country in 1995.
The 68-year-old former physician, who is charged with planning to kill and subject people to torture during the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda, was running late for the hearing, which was supposed to start at 9:00 am (0800 GMT).
Munyemana, dressed in a grey blazer and blue striped shirt, first apologized for the wait before revealing his identity.
Since 1994, he has resided in France.
Munyemana, the accused, is facing life in jail if found guilty. The five-week trial will be videotaped for use in historical archives.
An accused participant in the murders, which resulted in the killing of some 800,000 people over the course of 100 days—the majority of them ethnic Tutsis—is on trial for the sixth time in France.
- ‘Waiting for justice
“We’re waiting for justice to be done at last,” Rachel Lindon, a lawyer representing 26 victims, said ahead of the trial. “The more time passes, the fewer witnesses we have,” she added.
Munyemana, who spent ten years working in a hospital in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, south-west France, had her request for asylum denied by France in 2008.
However, it also turned down a request for extradition from Rwanda in 2010 on the grounds that Munyemana’s attorneys could not get a fair trial in that country.
The father of three was accused by a French court in 2011 of participating in the genocide that occurred in 1994.
At the time of the killing, he was an ethnic Hutu living in Butare in southern Rwanda.
One of the most popular locations for criminals escaping justice over the genocide in Rwanda has been France.
Paul Kagame, the president of Rwanda, has charged that Paris is unwilling to extradite or prosecute genocide criminals.
Several people, including a former intelligence chief, two former mayors, and a former hotel chauffeur, have been tried and found guilty in France since 2014.
- ‘Well-known man
“He was a doctor, a well-known man who was much appreciated,” said Emmanuel Daoud, a lawyer for the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and the Human Rights League (LDH).
“He could not have been unaware of what was happening,” he added.
Munyemana had a tight relationship with Jean Kambanda, the head of the provisional administration that was set up following the 1994 missile attack that downed the plane carrying then-president Juvenal Habyarimana.
He is charged with having contributed to the writing of a letter endorsing the provisional administration, which in turn approved of the Tutsi massacre. Additionally, he is charged with maintaining Tutsi citizens inhumanely in local government buildings where he had access.
Munyemana claims that the offices acted as a “refuge” for Tutsis who were looking for safety, but he does not dispute having possessed the key.
Jean-Yves Dupeux, Munyemana’s attorney, contended that the evidence “rests only” on eyewitness testimony from several decades ago.
“It’s very difficult to rely on testimonies about something that happened so long ago,” he said.
Before deciding to specialise in geriatrics, Munyemana practised emergency medicine in the south-west of France.
According to UN estimates, Hutu army and extremist militias slaughtered over 800,000 people in Rwanda between April and July 1994, the majority of them were Tutsis, a minority group.
