Appeal Trial of Sosthène MUNYEMANA

Sosthène MUNYEMANA was sentenced to 24 years imprisonment at the conclusion of his appeal trial, held between September 16 to October 23, 2025, at the Paris Assize Court. He was found guilty of acts of genocide against Tutsis resulting in their deaths, as well as preparatory acts for the genocide.

He had already been sentenced to the same 24-year term of imprisonment in the first instance on December 19, 2023. It took 28 years to reach this point. Doctor Sosthène MUNYEMANA, an accident and emergency physician at the hospital in Villeneuve-sur-Lot for many years, was the object of a legal case filed by several associations (Survie, FIDH, CRF) since October 15, 1995, with the CPCR joining the case as a civil plaintiff after its creation in 2001.

In April 2007, the Paris public prosecutor’s office requested that he be placed under formal investigation, which only happened in December 2011. Placed under judicial supervision in January 2010, the extradition request by the Rwandan authorities was rejected by the Bordeaux Court of Appeal, who also consequently lifted his judicial supervision.

It was only in March 2017 that the judicial investigation was closed and awaited the Public Prosecutor’s final submission. In May 2018, the Prosecutor’s Office requested that Dr. Sosthène MUNYEMANA be referred to the Assize Court. In December of the same year, the investigating judge handling the case issued an “order of partial dismissal, reclassification, and indictment for certain charges” to the Paris Assize Court. Sosthène MUNYEMANA appealed, but his appeal was rejected in December 2021. The accused filed an further appeal with the Court of Cassation, which was dismissed on March 23, 2022.

Thus ends a judicial saga that has lasted far too long.

Alain GAUTHIER, Chairperson of the CPCR

Updated by Jacques BIGOT, CPCR

Translated by Bruce CLARKE, CPCR