The mayors were sentenced by a French court to life in prison for their role in the 1994 genocide.
Tito Barahira, 65 and Octavien Ngenzi, 58 all former mayors in Rwanda have been found guilty of playing leading roles in the massacre of 2,000 ethnic Tutsis who sought refuge in a church in the town of Kabarondo, during the Rwandan genocide of 1994, BBC reports.
A French court has sentenced the two former mayors to life in prison for their part in the genocide, as they were reportedly found guilty of crimes against humanity and genocide. About 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis died at the hands of Hutu extremists in genocide.This is the second case of its kind to be brought in France, after Rwandan army captain Pascal Simbikangwa was jailed for 25 years over the mass killings.
Survivors of the church massacre, BBC said, testified at the two men's trial. One of them Marie Mukamunana reportedly said she lost seven children and her husband, killed by machetes and grenades. "Someone said 'don't waste the bullets' and they continued with machetes," BBC quoted her as testifying. Gilles Paruelle, a lawyer for the civil parties in the case, is quoted as saying that, "To kill one man, hatred is sufficient. To kill 1,000, you need organization. “
The sentenced former mayors, Tito Barahira and Octavien Ngenzi had denied any involvement in the killings. They were reportedly arrested separately on French territory a few years ago and have been in custody ever since. Concerning the genocide, attacks on Tutsis in Kabarondo began soon after Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana was killed in a rocket attack on his plane.
