Life sentences handed to two former Rwandan mayors for their part in the Rwandan genocide were upheld by a French court on Friday.
Octavien Ngenzi and Tito Barahira had appealed after they were found guilty of crimes of against humanity, genocide and summary executions in 2016.
"This decision is just and sends a message: no to impunity for all those who took part in the genocide and who thought they could find refuge in France," said Alain Gauthier, head of a group which has pushed for French investigations into the genocide.
The pair’s sentences are the strongest handed out for genocide by a French court, following the sentencing in 2014 of former Rwandan army captain Pascal Simbikangwa to 25 years of solitary confinement.
All three were arrested and tried in France under universal jurisdiction.