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Swedish court sentences man over Rwandan genocide

A 61 year old man was sentenced in Sweden this week for genocide committed in Rwanda in 1994.

Claver Berinkindi, who became a Swedish citizen in 2002 was sentenced to life in prison.

"This relates to participation in a large number of massacres during the 1994 genocide where the defendant had an informal role as a leader," the court said in a statement.

The conviction was welcomed by Rwanda's National Commission for the Fight against the Genocide (CNLG).

"His sentencing shows that more nations are committed to try fugitives who thought they had found haven; it is, however, more special for Berinkindi as for him he had acquired Swedish nationality which would complicate the trial but the Swedish court tried and convicted him after conducting thorough investigations in Rwanda," CNLG's executive secretary was quoted by All Africa as saying.

"It also shows that the fact that this happens after 20 years, nations understand the seriousness of genocide crimes other than beliefs by some that we will get discouraged to follow up as time goes by," he added.

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