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MONTREAL (AP) - A Rwandan man who was the first person convicted under a law allowing people in Canada to be tried for war crimes committed abroad has been sentenced to life in prison.
Desire Munyaneza, 42, was found guilty in May of seven charges, including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for his role in the 1994 rape and slaughter of at least 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda. He will not be eligible for parole for 25 years.
"The accused, an educated man from a privileged background, chose to kill, rape and pillage in the name of his ethnic group's supremacy," Justice Andre Denis said as he issued the sentence. "The sentence I am imposing is severe because the law considers the crimes committed by the accused to be the worst in existence."
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