A French Court of Appeal has upheld the life sentence of Philippe Hategekimana, a former Rwandan military police officer, for his involvement in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi ethnic group in Rwanda, according to a plaintiffs’ lawyer.
Hategekimana, who served as a deputy military police commander, was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity by the Paris Assize Court in June 2023.
Richard Gisagara, a Rwandan lawyer representing genocide survivors, confirmed the court’s decision on Tuesday.
The appeal hearing began in early November after Hategekimana, 67, challenged his initial sentencing.
Despite denying the charges, he was found guilty of orchestrating and participating in massacres targeting members of the Tutsi community in southern Rwanda during the genocide.
After fleeing Rwanda, Hategekimana obtained refugee status in France and acquired French citizenship in 2005 under the alias Philippe Manier. He later relocated to Cameroon in 2017, but was arrested the following year and extradited to France for trial.
This case follows another recent conviction in France, where a former Rwandan doctor, Eugene Rwamucyo, was sentenced to 27 years in prison in October for his role in the same genocide.
The 1994 Rwandan genocide saw Hutu extremists massacre nearly one million people—primarily Tutsis and moderate Hutus—within just 100 days.
