Belgian prosecutors have urged court to impose a 30-year jail term on a former Rwandan official convicted of genocide for his part in his country’s 1994 killing of minority Tutsis.
Fabien Neretse was arrested in France in 2011 and was found guilty of genocide and war crimes on Thursday after a trial in the Brussels high court.
Neretse, who protested his innocence throughout the trial, is the first person to be convicted in Belgium on a genocide charge.
He was also convicted of war crimes for 11 murders in Rwanda, under Belgium’s code of universal jurisdiction for the most serious offences.
Neretse remained silent in the dock as the verdict was being delivered on Thursday, but many have a chance to speak during Friday’s sentencing hearing.
