François Bazaramba, a Rwandan national serving a life sentence in Finland for crimes committed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, has died in custody, Finnish authorities confirmed on Friday.
Bazaramba was found dead at Kerava Prison, north of Helsinki, in an area housing the prison’s sauna facilities. Finnish police have opened an investigation to establish the cause of death, while prison authorities have so far declined to comment.
Bazaramba was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2012 after being convicted by the Helsinki Court of Appeal for his role in the genocide, including inciting violence and participating in mass killings of Tutsi civilians.
He was arrested in 2007 following investigations into his activities during the genocide. Prosecutors accused him of encouraging Hutu extremists to kill Tutsi and of direct involvement in killings across several locations, including Birambo, Cyahinda, Rushunguriro, Maraba, and Kibangu, in the former Nyakizu Commune.
Despite the conviction, Bazaramba consistently denied the charges throughout his trial.
Bazaramba arrived in Finland in 2003 and applied for asylum, which was rejected. He was born in 1951 in the former Nshili Commune of Gikongoro Prefecture. Before the genocide, he worked as a teacher at a religious school and later became a Baptist pastor.
During the genocide, he was serving as a pastor in Nyakizu, now part of Nyaruguru District in Rwanda’s Southern Province.
Finnish courts found him responsible for encouraging and facilitating the killing of more than 5,000 Tutsi civilians. He was convicted of incitement to genocide and participation in mass murder, crimes for which he received a life sentence.
