French prosecutors have asked the Paris Court of Appeal to sentence Rwandan Doctor Eugène Rwamucyo to 30 years in prison for his role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, seeking a tougher penalty than the 27-year sentence handed down at his first trial.
The request was made on Wednesday after six weeks of hearings. Prosecutor Aude Duret urged the court to convict Rwamucyo of genocide both as a principal perpetrator and as an accomplice, and of crimes against humanity as an accomplice. The court is expected to deliver its verdict on July 17.
In her closing arguments, Duret said the testimony, documents and other evidence presented during the trial established Rwamucyo’s responsibility beyond doubt.
She described him as a committed public official who knowingly supported the genocidal policies of Rwanda’s government in 1994. According to the prosecution, he maintained close ties with members of the Coalition for the Defence of the Republic (CDR), an extremist political party known for promoting anti-Tutsi hate and ethnic violence.
The prosecutor also accused Rwamucyo of supervising and coordinating the burial of victims’ bodies in the former Butare prefecture, where more than 214,000 genocide victims have been identified.
Rwamucyo has argued that he organized the burials as a doctor to prevent public health risks. Duret rejected that explanation, saying there were no public health directives, no records identifying burial sites, and no effort to preserve the bodies for future identification or exhumation.
Instead, she argued that the operations were intended to conceal the genocide and erase evidence, adding that victims’ bodies were treated as “garbage” and “waste.”
The prosecution further said witness testimony indicated that some people buried during those operations were still alive and that a number of them survived.
Duret described Rwamucyo as an educated professional who used his expertise to serve the genocidal government and said he could not have been unaware of the consequences of his actions.
Ending her submissions, she told the court:“Erasing the memory of the Genocide against the Tutsi was an extension of the massacres themselves.”
The Paris Court of Appeal is expected to issue its ruling on July 17.
