Court denies Munyaneza appeal to Rwandan genocide conviction
Désiré Munyaneza was first person to be convicted under Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act
The Quebec Court of Appeal today denied the appeal request of Désiré Munyaneza, a man convicted in 2009 of crimes related to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for his role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
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- Genocide admissions likely will shorten Rwandan war crimes trial in Montreal
- Trial postponed after Munyaneza assaulted in prison
Munyaneza was appealing the 2009 court decision that handed him a life sentence.
Munyaneza was the first person to be convicted under Canada's relatively recent Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act.
More than 800,000 Rwandans died in the genocide. Munyaneza, a Hutu from Butare, Rwanda, was accused of murdering and raping civilians, and of leading attacks against ethnic Tutsis at the National University of Rwanda during the genocide.
On Oct. 29, 2009, Judge André Denis sentenced Munyaneza to life in prison without possibility of parole for 25 years.