French court sentences Rwandan driver to 14 years in prison for genocide

The French court ruled that 60-year-old Claude Mahiman, who transported representatives of the extremist Hutu regime for three months, was involved in the genocide of the Tutsi people, who lost about 800,000 people during the ethnic cleansing from April to July 1994.

Muhaiminah was convicted of complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity. The proceedings in the case took four weeks, and included about 50 witnesses, some of whom were specially brought to trial on a private plane from Rwanda.

The judges were not embarrassed because Muhaimen was married to a Tutsi woman, and under death threat, he hid some Tutsis and helped them escape. In 2010 he obtained French citizenship.

Earlier, the French authorities decided to open an archive containing data on the Rwandan genocide. It contains documents relating to the situation in Rwanda during the period 1990-1994, including diplomatic cables and confidential documents relating to the presidency of François Mitterrand.