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CRIME

Appeals court confirms lifetime jail sentence for Swede over Rwanda genocide crimes

A Swedish Court of Appeal has upheld a lifetime jail sentence for a Swedish citizen who murdered hundreds of people during the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

Appeals court confirms lifetime jail sentence for Swede over Rwanda genocide crimes
The appeals court in Stockholm. File photo: Magnus Hjalmarson Neideman / SvD / TT

Despite confirming the verdict of an earlier court, the appeals court acquitted the man of some of the crimes he had earlier been found guilty of, including nine counts of murder and four of attempted murder.

In June last year, a Stockholm court found the man guilty of genocide crimes and crimes against the law of nations, including murder, attempted murder, and kidnapping. That court sentenced the 50-year-old to a lifetime in jail, a sentencing upheld by the appeals court.

According to the United Nations some 800,000 people, mainly minority Tutsis, were killed in the Rwandan genocide, which began after the assassination of Rwanda's Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana in April 1994.

Rwandans who took part in the genocide have also been sentenced in the United States, Canada, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands, Switzerland and France for their role in the killings.

Sweden has previously sentenced to life imprisonment two other naturalized Rwandans in 2014 and 2016 respectively, for their roles in the genocide.

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CRIME

Man shot dead in southern Stockholm in early hours of Monday

A man was shot dead on Monday morning in the Bredäng suburb, just a few hours after another shooting in southern Stockholm.

Man shot dead in southern Stockholm in early hours of Monday

Police were called out to the scene at around 5.30am, after a witness heard gunshots and saw a person on the ground.

The man, aged around 40, was taken to hospital but died from his injuries.

“Police are right now looking for a perpetrator or perpetrators,” police said in a statement, adding that they were investigating. “We will use police search dogs in our work and other investigative measures such as door knocking and interrogations are ongoing.”

Late on Sunday, another man was injured in a shooting in Flemingsberg, south of Stockholm. 

The state of his injuries was not immediately known and no arrests had been reported by the time of publication.

According to unconfirmed reports to the Aftonbladet tabloid, the man, aged around 60, was shot through the door after the shooter knocked on the door and said he had a food delivery.

He was, according to Aftonbladet, not believed to have been the intended victim, but a relative of his was the target of another recent shooting.

Police confirmed the shooting had happened “in connection to an apartment” when asked by the TT news agency.

It was not known on Monday morning whether the two incidents were connected.

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