Former Rwanda lawmaker sentenced for genocide
Men work in a gold mine on Feb. 23, 2009, in Chudja, near Bunia in north eastern Congo. The conflict in Congo has often been linked to a struggle for control over its resources.
A Rwandan former lawmaker has been found guilty of genocide by the United Nations.
Augustin Ngirabatware, Rwanda's planning minister during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, was sentenced to 35 years in prison by the UN-backed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Al Jazeera reported.
Ngirabatware was arrested in Germany in September 2007 for his suspected role in the massacre.
"Augustin Ngirabatware, the Chamber finds you guilty of genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide and rape as a crime against humanity," presiding judge William Hussein Sekule announced in court, Hirondelle News Agency reported.
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"For these crimes, the Chamber sentences you to 35 years in prison."
Up to 800,000 people were killed in 100 days in Rwanda in 1994. Later that year, The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was set up by the United Nations to prosecute the ringleaders of the genocide, BBC News reported.
In the years, since, the ICTR has convicted 55 people and acquitted eight.
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