Théoneste Bagosora, considered the "brain" of the genocide in Rwanda, is dead
Théoneste Bagosora (left), here in 2008 in Arusha.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, before his sentence was reduced in 2011 to 35 years in prison.
TONY KARUMBA AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
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Colonel Théoneste Bagosora, presented as "the brain" of the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda, died this Saturday in a clinic in Bamako, according to the Malian prison administration.
Sentenced by a UN court, he was serving his sentence in Mali
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Théoneste Bagosora, 80, died in Mali where he was serving a
35-year prison sentence
.
He had been found guilty of "genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes" by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha for his role in the genocide in Rwanda which claimed the lives of more than 800,000 people. .
His death, announced on Facebook by his son Achille Bagosora, was confirmed to RFI by the Malian prison administration.
Former seminarian, passed through the School of Officers, Colonel Théoneste Bagosora was the number 2 of the Rwandan Ministry of Defense in 1994. According to the ICTR, he was then the highest military authority in the country after the attack on the plane. of President Juvénal Habyarimana.
Imprisoned in Koulikoro
He was arrested in 1996 in Cameroon where he had found refuge in front of the advance of the Rwandan Patriotic Front led by Paul Kagame.
In 2008, the ICTR found him guilty of crimes committed between April 7 and 9, 1994, including rape and mass killings.
As a hierarchical superior, he was also convicted of the murders of several political figures, including Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana, as well as 10 Belgian peacekeepers.
He was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2008. Three years later, the court overturned on appeal several factual findings of the trial chamber and reduced his sentence to 35 years' imprisonment.
He was serving his sentence in Mali in Koulikoro prison with other personalities convicted by the ICTR in Arusha.
His request for early release was rejected on April 1.
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