Bagosora, architect of Rwanda genocide, dies at 80

oneste Bagosora, a former Rwandan army colonel regarded as architect of 1994 gecide in which more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsi and Hutus who tried to protect m were killed, died in a hospital in Mali on Saturday.

His son Achille Bagosora anunced death in a Facebook post: “Rest in Peace, Papa.”

Bagosora was serving a 35-year sentence after being found guilty of crimes against humanity by n-International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Bagosora, 80, had been sentenced to life in 2008 but on appeal his sentence was reduced to 35 years in prison.

Kwn as a hardliner within National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development party of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, Bagosora in 1993 was appointed cabinet director in defense ministry and took control of military and political affairs in country.

position made him answerable only to president.

When president died in a plane crash, Bagosora took over affairs of state and ordered massacre of Tutsi, Donat Rutayisire, a gecide survivor who knew him, told Associated Press.

After gecide, Bagosora fled into exile in Cameroon. He was arrested re in 1996 and flown to face trial in Arusha, Tanzania in 1997. His trial began in 2002 and lasted until 2007.

IM: AP