The man, Onesphore Rwabukombe, 56, had lived in Germany since 2002, where he had applied for political asylum.
But the former mayor of the town of Muvumba in north eastern Rwanda was found guilty of aiding genocide.
Prosecutors had asked for a term of life in jail over the killings, while the defence had demanded an acquittal in the trial at the higher regional
court in Frankfurt, Hesse.
court in Frankfurt, Hesse.
It was the first case heard in Germany related to the Rwanda genocide, in which an estimated 800,000 people, the overwhelming majority of them ethnic
Tutsis, were killed between April and July 1994.
Tutsis, were killed between April and July 1994.
The three-year trial had heard more than 100 witnesses, and Germany had sent criminal investigators to Rwanda.
Germany has prosecuted suspected war criminals from the Nazi era and the former Yugoslavia for genocide but this is the first time it has tried someone for alleged links to the Rwandan bloodletting.
The Frankfurt court heard the case because Germany did not want to extradite the defendant to Rwanda, fearing he would not receive a fair trial, and as international courts in The Hague and Tanzania did not ask to handle the case.
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