Cape Town — A former Rwandan doctor, Sosthene Munyemana, 68, has been jailed for 24 years by a French court for his involvement in the 1994 genocide, according to a BBC report.

On Wednesday, December 19, he was found guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and participation in a conspiracy to prepare these crimes.

Munyemana was tried for being at the forefront of massacres in Tumba - a locality in current Huye town, southern Rwanda - a role that earned him the nickname "butcher of Tumba". Munyemana is a Hutu and at the time of the genocide was a practising gynaecologist at the university hospital.

He was also accused of participating in meetings that organised round-ups of Tutsi civilians in the southern Rwandan province of Butare, where he lived at the time.

His trial followed that of several other alleged genocide perpetrators who were found hiding in France or other countries around the world, several of whom have been sentenced in France.

In June 2023, the French Court of Appeal recommended an investigation into French military inaction at the Bisesero massacres during the genocide, according to reports.

The Rwandan genocide occurred between April 7 and July 15,1994 when for about 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu militias.