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Bazaramba denied all the charges [Reuters]

A Finnish court has sentenced Francois Bazaramba, a former Rwandan pastor, to life imprisonment for committing genocide against the
Tutsi minority in his home country in 1994.

The 59-year-old member of the Hutu tribe, who has lived in Finland since 2003, was found guilty of intending to "destroy in whole or part the Rwandan Tutsis as a group".

The district court in Porvoo, located in the south of Finland, said Bazaramba had spread anti-Tutsi propaganda and incited Hutus "to killings through fomenting anger and contempt towards Tutsis".

The 115-page ruling, which was delivered as a written statement, said Bazaramba, who denied all charges, had forced Tutsis to leave their homes and had ordered Hutus to burn down their homes.

Ville Hoikkala, Bazaramba's lawyer, said: "Of course he [Bazaramba] was sad, he was disappointed. We are going to appeal, we consider this incorrect.

"My client is not convicted of actually killing anyone, he is convicted of encouraging others to kill."

First genocide trial

Bazaramba was detained in April 2007 after the National Bureau of Investigation looked into his background.

The trial, which begun last September in Porvoo, about 50km east of Helsinki, the capital, was Finland's first genocide trial.

The justice ministry estimates the trial, which has heard dozens of witnesses in Finland, Rwanda and Tanzania, has cost around $1.2m.

Rwanda asked Finland to extradite Bazaramba to Rwanda, but the Nordic country turned down the request, saying he might not get a fair trial there.

The Finnish court heard the case under a "universal jurisdiction" principle, meaning a court in Finland can try people suspected of serious crimes such as war crimes or crimes against humanity regardless of where they took place.