Court Convicts Rwanda Genocide Organizer

A U.N. court convicted the organizer of the 1994 Rwandan genocide that claimed more than 500,000 lives and sentenced him to life in prison Thursday.

Theoneste Bagosora was found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity, Judge Erik Moses said.

The judge said Bagosora organized and armed the notorious Interahamwe militia, and used his position as the former director of Rwanda's ministry of defense to direct Hutu soldiers to kill Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

Bagosora also was found responsible for the deaths of former Rwandan Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and 10 Belgian peacekeepers.

The Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was set up by the U.N. in 1997 to try those responsible for the killings.

Earlier Thursday, Protais Zigiranyirazo was sentenced to 20 years for organizing a massacre in which hundreds of Tutsis died; he already has served seven years.

The massacres took place in 1994 after the Rwandan president's plane was mysteriously shot down over Kigali as he returned home from peace talks with Tutsi-led rebels.

Hours after the crash, the Interahamwe set up roadblocks across Kigali and the next day began killing Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The slaughter eventually ended after Tutsi rebels invaded from neighboring Uganda and drove out the genocidal forces.