Rwanda: death of Théoneste Bagosora, “mastermind” of the 1994 genocide

Théoneste Bagosora, considered to be the "

" of the 1994 genocide and one of the highest Rwandan officials condemned for this tragedy, died on Saturday at the age of 80 in Mali where he was serving his sentence. learned from consistent sources.

See also Genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda: a report submitted to Macron points to the "overwhelming responsibilities" of France

The death, announced on Saturday afternoon by a brief message "

" ("

") posted on Facebook by the son of Théoneste Bagosora, was confirmed to AFP on Sunday by the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MTPI), which took over from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) after 2015. "

", declared to the 'AFP the clerk of the MTPI, Abubacarr Tambadou.

The ICTR sentenced Théoneste Bagosora to life imprisonment in 2008 for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. His sentence was reduced to 35 years in prison on appeal in 2011. During the trial, the prosecution presented this chief of staff to the Rwandan Ministry of Defense in 1994 as "

" of the genocide which claimed the lives of 800,000. according to the UN, mainly from the Tutsi minority.

In 2019, the French media Mediapart and Radio France also revealed that a “

” from September 1994 designated “

Hutu

” in power at the time, including Théoneste Bagosora, as “

”against President Habyarimana's plane.

This attack, which had caused the death of the Head of State, triggered large-scale massacres against Tutsi and moderate Hutus.

Théoneste Bagosora was serving his sentence in Koulikoro prison in Mali.

Read alsoEnd of the run for Kabuga, financier of the Tutsi genocide

Malian sources told AFP that he was ill and had been transferred to "

" in the capital Bamako. “

,” a source within the Malian prison administration told AFP, confirming his death “

”. An official at the facility where he was admitted said he died of "

", without further details.

Bagosora was refused an early release request in April.

He claimed to have served two-thirds of his sentence since his arrest in Cameroon in 1996. His request was rejected in particular because of "

".

In 2011, the ICTR appeals judges quashed several conclusions of the trial chamber which had condemned him.

They had, however, maintained a central conclusion of the judgment, according to which Bagosora was the highest military authority present in Rwanda between April 6 and 9, 1994, in the early days of the genocide.