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UN tribunal convicts former Rwandan mayor and sentences him to life in jail

UN tribunal convicts former Rwandan mayor and sentences him to life in jail

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The United Nations war crimes tribunal for Rwanda today convicted a local mayor and sentenced him to jail for the rest of his life for his role in the genocide that roiled the African country in 1994.

A panel of three judges of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), sitting in Arusha, Tanzania, found Juvénal Kajelijeli guilty of three of the eight counts he faced at the end of his trial.

Mr. Kajelijeli - who was the bourgmestre of the Mukingo commune - was convicted of one charge of genocide, one charge of extermination as a crime against humanity and one charge of direct and public incitement to commit genocide.

The judges sentenced him to jail for the rest of his life on each of the first two counts, and to 15 years for the third count. The sentences will be served concurrently.

The conviction of Mr. Kajelijeli, 51, came after the court heard testimony about a series of attacks against Tutsi people in Ruhengeri Prefecture during April 1994, when large numbers of Tutsis were massacred.