A Dutch court has sentenced a 66-year-old Rwandan-born Dutch national to life imprisonment for his role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, including the massacre of about 3,000 ethnic Tutsis who had sought refuge at a stadium.
The District Court of The Hague found the man, identified as Eugène N., guilty of participating in attacks against Tutsi communities during the genocide. The court said he was involved in the looting and burning of homes and threw a grenade into a crowd of Tutsis sheltering at a football stadium in Mbazi, southern Rwanda.
The court said the severity of his conduct and the suffering inflicted on victims and their families justified the maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
The verdict brings to a close a lengthy investigation and trial that examined events that occurred more than three decades ago during Rwanda’s genocide, in which more than 800,000 people, predominantly Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were killed over approximately three months.
Prosecutors had accused Eugène N. of playing a significant role in violence against Tutsis in the Mbazi area of the former Butare prefecture.
According to the prosecution’s case, thousands of Tutsis gathered at the stadium believing they would find safety. Instead, they were attacked in a massacre that prosecutors said occurred over two days in April 1994.
The prosecution alleged that the defendant participated in the violence and helped prevent people from escaping. The court ultimately found him responsible for conduct that contributed to the atrocities, including throwing a grenade into the crowd.
Dutch authorities began investigating the case in 2020 after Rwanda had previously issued an international arrest warrant for the suspect.
The Dutch International Crimes Team travelled to Rwanda several times to interview witnesses and investigate locations connected to the alleged crimes. The suspect was arrested in the Dutch town of Ede in February 2024.
Because he had acquired Dutch nationality, he could not be extradited to Rwanda and was instead prosecuted in the Netherlands.
More than 30 witnesses were interviewed during the investigation, while victims and relatives of victims also participated in the proceedings.
Throughout the trial, the defendant denied the allegations against him.
His defence had argued that he was himself a victim of the violence and disputed the prosecution’s account of his role in the killings. Earlier reports from the trial said he maintained that he had lost family members during the genocide and had been targeted himself.
Dutch prosecutors had sought a life sentence during their closing arguments in June, describing the alleged crimes as exceptionally grave and involving the deaths of thousands of defenceless people.
The court’s decision on Friday, August 28, confirmed that request and imposed a life sentence.
The case highlights continuing efforts by countries outside Rwanda to prosecute people suspected of participating in the 1994 genocide.
Although the genocide occurred more than 30 years ago, Dutch authorities have continued to investigate suspects who later settled in the Netherlands.
The conviction also underscores the long-term pursuit of accountability for the genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed in a campaign of mass violence led by extremist elements.
The Dutch court’s ruling adds another domestic prosecution to the international record of cases seeking justice for victims of the Rwandan genocide.