Dutch court sentences man to life over Rwanda genocide

What the report says

A court in The Hague has sentenced a 66-year-old Dutch-Rwandan man, identified as Eugene N, to life in prison over his role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. According to BBC Africa, the court convicted him of war crimes and genocide after finding that he acted with genocidal intent.

The case centered on allegations that N used his position of influence in southern Rwanda to help coordinate attacks on Tutsis and moderate Hutus during the mass killings. The court heard evidence that he was involved in violence at a stadium where people had sought refuge, including ordering Hutus not to allow anyone to escape. BBC Africa reported that victims were attacked with stones, gunfire, grenades, clubs and machetes. He was also accused of witnessing looting and arson before the stadium killings.

Rwanda had sought N’s extradition in 2014, but Dutch authorities later opened their own investigation after he became a Dutch citizen. That probe began in 2020, involved more than 30 witnesses, and led to his arrest in 2024. The judge said a life sentence was warranted because of the scale of the suffering caused to victims and their families.

N denied the charges and was acquitted on one count of incitement to genocide. His lawyers said they would almost certainly appeal, according to BBC Africa and AFP reporting. The verdict adds to ongoing efforts to prosecute alleged genocide suspects outside Rwanda, decades after the 100-day slaughter in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed.