Stockholm – A Swedish court on Monday in Stockholm sentenced a 61-year-old man to life in prison for genocide in Rwanda in 1994.
The Stockholm District Court said Claver Berinkindi, a Swedish citizen originally from Rwanda, was convicted of genocide and gross crime under international law consisting of murder, attempted murder and kidnapping in Rwanda.
The court said in a statement that the sentence related to his participation in a large number of massacres during the 1994 genocide where the defendant had an informal role as a leader.
The court said 15 crime victims had been awarded damages ranging from 3 million Rwandan francs ($3,781) to 10 million francs ($12,602).
It said this was the first time a Swedish court had awarded damages to victims of genocide.
The statement said further that an estimated 800,000 people, mostly of the Tutsi ethnic minority but also moderates of the ethnic group Hutu, were killed by Hutus over three months in 1994 after years of civil war.
It said the massacres raised questions about the ability or will of international organisations or states to intervene to halt mass killings of civilians.
According to the Stockholm court verdict, Berinkindi, who arrived in Sweden in 2002 and became a Swedish citizen in 2012, was convicted in absentia of genocide-related crimes by a Rwandan Gacaca community court in 2007.
He was charged in Sweden in September 2015.
Under Swedish law, courts can try Swedish citizens and other nationals for crimes committed abroad.
However, the district court ruling can be appealed. (Reuters/NAN)