Rwandan gets 30 years on genocide charges

ARUSHA, Tanzania, June 22 (UPI) -- A former Rwandan Interior Ministry official received a 30-year prison sentence for his role in the country's 1994 genocide of Tutsi tribe refugees.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda said in a statement Monday that Callixte Kalimanzira lured thousands of the refugees to Kabuye hill only to help armed government supporters kill them, CNN reported.

Kalimanzira was found "guilty of genocide and direct and public incitement to commit genocide" by the court, which said, "By encouraging Tutsi refugees to gather at Kabuye hill where he knew they would be killed in the thousands, he abused the public's trust that he, like other officials, would protect them."

CNN said the court also found Kalimanzira guilty of genocide-related charges on four other occasions in 1994.

Kalimanzira turned himself in to the court in 2005 and has been jailed since, the U.S. broadcaster said.