Claude Muhayimana arrives at the Paris courthouse for his first trial, where he was accused of complicity in the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi, on November 22, 2021. THOMAS COEX / AFP
In a courtroom filled to capacity, Sabine Raczy, the presiding judge, delivered the answers to the 80 questions the Paris criminal court had to decide on. After more than nine hours of deliberation, Claude Muhayimana, a former driver at a small hotel in Kibuye in western Rwanda, was sentenced on appeal to 14 years in prison for "complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity" on Friday, February 27. The 65-year-old Franco-Rwandan was found guilty of transporting Hutu Interahamwe militiamen to multiple massacre sites in April 1994, at the start of the genocide against the Tutsi.
This former street sweeper from Rouen, who was already sentenced to 14 years in prison at his first trial on December 16, 2021, stood trial again starting Tuesday, February 3, under the principle of universal jurisdiction. This legal principle allows a country to prosecute the perpetrators of grave crimes regardless of where they were committed. He was prosecuted following a complaint filed by the Collectif des parties civiles pour le Rwanda (CPCR, a plaintiffs' association representing victims of the Rwandan genocide) in 2013, and faced a possible life sentence for crimes that are not subject to any statute of limitations.
