Sosthene Munyemana, a former Rwandan doctor, is currently on trial in France, facing charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. At the time of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda,

Munyemana, then a 29-year-old gynaecologist residing in the south of Rwanda, is accused of organizing torture and killings that resulted in the deaths of 800,000 people.

Having lived in France for 29 years, Munyemana's trial in Paris marks a significant development, as French prosecutors took 28 years to bring the case to trial. The accusations against him stem from a complaint filed in 1995 in the city of Bordeaux, a year after the Rwandan genocide.

The trial revolves around a key to an office in a location called Tumba, which is expected to be a focal point of the proceedings. Munyemana, who acknowledges having the key, claims that Tutsi individuals sought refuge in the office, arguing that he worked to prevent the genocide. However, prosecutors allege that he locked them inside under inhumane conditions before they were subsequently taken away and killed.

Both sides of the case express agreement on one point: the unacceptable delay of many years for the case to reach the courtroom. Munyemana, who denies all charges, could face life imprisonment if convicted.

The Rwandan genocide, triggered by the death of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana when his plane was shot down above Kigali airport on April 6, 1994, led to a wave of violence. Habyarimana, from Rwanda's Hutu ethnic majority, experienced a retaliatory campaign initiated by the presidential guard in Kigali after his death. The genocide resulted in the murder of political opposition leaders and the systematic slaughter of Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans lost their lives in a span of 100 days. Photo by Ivan Mucyo, Wikimedia commons.