This is the first time a person has been convicted of genocide in Finland, and possibly in the Nordic countries.

The alleged crimes took place during Rwanda’s 100-day-long series of massacres 16 years ago. During the three-month period, extremist Rwandan Hutus killed an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Plan to Appeal

Bazaramba continues to deny involvement in the killings. Defence lawyer Ville Hoikkala is disappointed with the verdict. However, he is pleased that the court rejected most of the individual counts under which he was tried.

“Most of the charges were overturned. The court admitted that a large part of the prosecution evidence had been acquired through torture,” Hoikkala said to YLE after the verdict.

“I want to emphasise that my client has not been convicted directly of the killing of any individual. The verdict is based on opinions of my client’s use of language. That use of language has then, according to the indictment, led to the death of some people. So this is not a person who would have personally killed anyone."

Testimony heard in Africa

The Finnish court held hearings twice in Africa. Last autumn it heard testimony from 38 prosecution witnesses in Rwanda. This past spring it travelled to Tanzania to hear 19 defence witnesses. The accused participated in these hearings by a video link to Vantaa Prison.

Bazaramba has been held in custody since April 2007. Hearings in the case concluded this past April.