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An international tribunal for Rwanda has rejected a request for the early release of Theoneste Bagosora, a man some consider to be the mastermind behind the 1994 genocide that killed some 800,000 people.
Judge Carmel Agius rejected the request, saying “the extremely high gravity of Bagosora’s crimes weighs heavily against his early release,” according to information from the AFP news agency.
Agius heads the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), which oversees the completion of the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which was completed at the end of 2015.
The Maltese judge said he viewed Bagosora’s failure to show pardon as going against his early release in the April 1 ruling.
Bagosora, a former altar boy, was sentenced to life in prison for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by the ICTR in 2008, but his sentence was reduced to 35 years on appeal three years later.
The 79-year-old was a key Rwandan army officer and has been described during court proceedings as one of the pillars of the genocide.
During his appeal, it was argued that Bagosora did not order the killings, but as a senior military official he knew the crimes were going to happen and did not try to stop them, although he have the power.
The genocide saw massacres of Tutsis and Hutus moderated by extremist Hutu militias over a 100-day period from April 7 to July 15, 1994.
Rwandan President Paul Kagame came to power following the genocide and is widely credited with helping to end the massacre.
The ICTR has cost more than $ 1.3 billion and convicted 85 suspects in 20 years, according to a study by René Lemarchand published by Sciences Po.
Lemarchand, known for his extensive research on Rwanda, described Bagosora as “the main organizer of the killings”.
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