{"id":114155,"date":"2025-10-29T14:11:24","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T14:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/justice-came-late-for-genocide-survivor-of-tumba"},"modified":"2025-10-29T14:42:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T14:42:29","slug":"justice-came-late-for-genocide-survivor-of-tumba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/justice-came-late-for-genocide-survivor-of-tumba","title":{"rendered":"Justice Came Late for Genocide Survivor of Tumba"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>When 66-year-old Jean Marie Vianney Gashugi returned to his home in Tumba on July 11, 1994, silence and ruin greeted him. His house had been torn down, the land divided among others, and even cannabis grew where his family once lived.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t find anyone alive,\u201d he recalls quietly. \u201cThey had all been killed. I just sat there, staring at what used to be our home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three months earlier, he had fled for his life as the Genocide against the Tutsi engulfed the southern town of Huye. Behind much of the horror in Tumba stood a man Gashugi once knew \u2014 Dr. Sosthe\u0300ne Munyemana, a respected gynaecologist and university lecturer who would later earn the grim title, \u201cThe Butcher of Tumba.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, three decades later, a Paris court upheld Munyemana\u2019s 24-year sentence for genocide, crimes against humanity, and complicity in genocide. For Gashugi, who survived the nightmare that took his entire family, the verdict brought a quiet measure of peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if they sentence him for just one year,\u201d he says, \u201cwhat matters is that his crimes are now known world-wide. Justice was served.\u201d<\/p>\n

The neighbour who became a killer<\/b><\/p>\n

Gashugi knew Munyemana before the apocalypse descended. They weren\u2019t close friends, but in Tumba\u2019s tight-knit community, their paths crossed regularly. Munyemana, an educated gynecologist who had studied in France, would visit Gashugi\u2019s elder brother during holidays.<\/p>\n

Sometimes they would reciprocate, walking to Munyemana\u2019s home nearby\u2014a house that would later be auctioned by courts to compensate for the property its owner destroyed<\/p>\n

The transformation began around 1993, when the extremist MDR Power movement gained traction. Gashugi witnessed it with his own eyes: Munyemana standing at Opprovia, near the station by Focal Hotel in Butare City (now Huye District), his left arm raised for two hours, \u201cMDR Power\u201d scrawled in red marker on his skin like a brand.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had already changed a lot by then and had stopped visiting us,\u201d Gashugi recalled. \u201cHe knew that I was capable of going into the forest to visit others and coming back safely, so he avoided me.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the killings began, Munyemana allegedly played a central role. Witnesses, including Gashugi, testified that he organised attacks, manned roadblocks, and locked hundreds of Tutsi inside the Tumba sector office \u2014 where many were tortured and killed.<\/p>\n

By April 17, 1994, when a fateful meeting took place at the Tumba Sector office among members of the so-called Comite\u0301 de Crise, where Munyemana served as an advisor and included Simeon Remera, a CDR president, and Vincent Murekezi, later sentenced to life imprisonment, he had become something else entirely.<\/p>\n

Gashugi didn\u2019t attend\u2014the fear gripping most Tutsis kept him away\u2014but he lingered near a nearby house, close enough to overhear the chilling discussions. What he heard made him decide to flee for his life.<\/p>\n

Around April 20, 1994, Munyemana took the sector office key, brought people inside, locked the doors, and supervised their murders. About 300 people were killed, their bodies grotesquely mutilated. Munyemana, witnesses testified, kept lists of Tutsis to be killed and personally followed up to confirm their deaths.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had the sector key,\u201d Gashugi recounts. \u201cSome victims were injected with needles everywhere before being murdered. We saw the bodies later, it was horrific.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout his 2023 trial in France and the appeal hearings that concluded this month, Munyemana maintained his innocence. His defense team presented him as an exemplary doctor, a compassionate man who rescued people rather than harmed them.<\/p>\n

His wife and son testified on his behalf. French colleagues called him a man of integrity.<\/p>\n

But over 40 witnesses contradicted this narrative. One defense witness even admitted being asked by her aunt to provide false testimony for Munyemana\u2014a revelation that sparked chaos in the Paris courtroom.<\/p>\n

For Gashugi and others in Tumba, the verdict is less about revenge than recognition. \u201cHe called us liars,\u201d Gashugi says of Munyemana. \u201cBut now the truth has been told.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJustice came late,\u201d he says, \u201cbut it came. And that means everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justice that crosses borders<\/b><\/p>\n

For Ibuka leaders in Huye, the French court\u2019s decision marked another important step in a long fight for accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur relatives will never return, but seeing justice done against someone who committed such atrocities in Tumba gives us some peace,\u201d said Marie Claire Uwamahoro, Ibuka president in Tumba Sector, where Munyemana lived before and during the genocide against the tutsi.<\/p>\n

The\u0301odat Siboyintore, President of Ibuka in Huye District, said the verdict sends a clear message that genocide crimes have no expiry.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeeing him tried and convicted brings justice to survivors,\u201d he said. \u201cIt reaffirms that those who took part in the genocide cannot escape justice, wherever they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siboyintore acknowledged the government\u2019s efforts to bring genocide perpetrators to justice but urged foreign countries to extradite fugitives to Rwanda, so they can stand trial before survivors and be confronted with the atrocities they committed, a step, he said, that would greatly contribute to the healing process.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Rwanda<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Rwanda. When 66-year-old Jean Marie Vianney Gashugi returned to his home in Tumba on July 11, 1994, silence and ruin greeted him. His house had been torn down, the land divided among others, and even cannabis grew where his family once lived. \u201cI didn\u2019t find anyone alive,\u201d he recalls quietly. \u201cThey had all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":114154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[1043,1012,3572,5086,375,758,4280],"class_list":["post-114155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-france","tag-genocide","tag-genocide-against-the-tutsi","tag-huye","tag-justice","tag-rwanda","tag-sosthene-munyemana"],"yoast_head":"\nJustice Came Late for Genocide Survivor of Tumba - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When 66-year-old Jean Marie Vianney Gashugi returned to his home in Tumba on July 11, 1994, silence and ruin greeted him ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/justice-came-late-for-genocide-survivor-of-tumba\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Justice Came Late for Genocide Survivor of Tumba\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When 66-year-old Jean Marie Vianney Gashugi returned to his home in Tumba on July 11, 1994, silence and ruin greeted him ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/justice-came-late-for-genocide-survivor-of-tumba\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-29T14:11:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-29T14:42:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/10\/sm_1761736230.975599.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"588\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/justice-came-late-for-genocide-survivor-of-tumba#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/justice-came-late-for-genocide-survivor-of-tumba\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Justice Came Late for Genocide Survivor of Tumba\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-29T14:11:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-29T14:42:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/justice-came-late-for-genocide-survivor-of-tumba\"},\"wordCount\":844,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/justice-came-late-for-genocide-survivor-of-tumba#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2025\/10\/sm_1761736230.975599.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"France\",\"Genocide\",\"Genocide against the Tutsi\",\"Huye\",\"justice\",\"Rwanda\",\"Sosthene Munyemana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/justice-came-late-for-genocide-survivor-of-tumba#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/justice-came-late-for-genocide-survivor-of-tumba\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/policy\/justice-came-late-for-genocide-survivor-of-tumba\",\"name\":\"Justice Came Late for Genocide Survivor of Tumba - 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