A Dutch court has sentenced a 66-year-old Rwandan man to life imprisonment for his role in one of the most lethal single episodes of the 1994 Rwandan genocide: the massacre of approximately 3,000 Tutsis sheltering at a stadium in Mbazi, in southern Rwanda.
The Hague District Court convicted the man, identified only as Eugene N under Dutch privacy rules, of genocide and war crimes. He was acquitted of a separate charge of incitement to genocide. The BBC reported that Eugene N denied all charges.
The court found that Eugene N held an authoritative position in the Mbazi community at the time, overseeing around 1,000 people in the region. According to the BBC, he directed attackers at the stadium, threw a hand grenade into the crowd of Tutsis who had gathered there seeking shelter, and instructed Hutu perpetrators not to allow any Tutsis to escape.
Those trapped inside were pelted with stones, shot at, and had hand grenades thrown at them. Survivors of the initial attack were later killed with clubs and machetes, Al Jazeera reported. Eugene N also helped ransack and burn homes in two mostly Tutsi communities, according to DW.
The judge found that Eugene N had acted with genocidal intent. In sentencing, the court stated that "only a lifelong prison sentence does justice to the immense suffering that has been inflicted on the victims and the bereaved families," the BBC reported.
The 1994 genocide saw an estimated 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus killed by Hutu extremists in 100 days, according to the BBC.
A case that took a decade to reach a Dutch courtroom
Eugene N's prosecution followed a lengthy path. Rwanda sought his extradition in 2014, by which time he had become a Dutch national. Dutch law prevents the handover of its own citizens, so the extradition request could not be fulfilled. Instead, Dutch authorities opened their own investigation in 2020. More than 30 witnesses were interviewed during that process, with interviews conducted in Rwanda. Eugene N was arrested in 2024.
The case illustrates how national courts outside Rwanda have pursued individuals suspected of involvement in the genocide who subsequently settled abroad. Eugene N had fled to the Netherlands in 1998. European courts have pursued lower-level suspects under the principle of universal jurisdiction, whereby states claim the right to prosecute certain serious crimes regardless of where they were committed or the nationality of those involved, Al Jazeera reported. A United Nations tribunal had previously prosecuted leading organisers of the genocide.
His defence team indicated they will "almost certainly appeal the charges," the BBC reported. The timeline for any such appeal has not been confirmed. The verdict stands unless and until it is overturned by a higher court.
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