Medical doctors serve one of the noblest duties of ensuring that people live longer and in good health. But one of the most appalling aspects of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda was the involvement of doctors and nurses in murdering their patients. In so doing, they betrayed the Hippocratic Oath, an ethical code attributed to the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, adopted as a professional code of conduct by medics throughout the ages. It is still used in graduation ceremonies of many medical schools.

According to the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG), doctors, medical assistants, and other staff at hospitals and health centres throughout the country were involved in the extermination of the Tutsi in 1994.  They targeted Tutsi refugees and did not spare fellow healthcare professionals.

Dr Theodore Sindikubwabo

He was born in the former Shyanda Commune, Butare in 1928. He was the president of the interim government that conducted the slaughter of more than one million Tutsi. He was a paediatrician by profession and held the post of Health Minister for a long time and was a long-time ally of President Juvenal Habyarimana.

Sindikubwabo is widely believed to have been a puppet of the group of military officers who wielded power. On April 19, 1994, he made a now-infamous speech at the ceremony appointing a new Préfet of Butare that was broadcast on national radio, in which he insulted those who were not "working", a euphemism for killing the Tutsi, and told them to "get out of the way and let us work".  On April 29, that year, he returned to Butare, and told the populace that he was there to supervise the killing of the Tutsi. On May 18, while on a visit to Kibuye Prefecture, he congratulated the people on how well they had done their "work".   Taking advantage of his medical knowledge, he advised the military to cut a certain vein on the jugular to cause certain death. He died in exile in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in March 1998.

Dr Casimir Bizimungu

Casimir Bizimungu was born in 1951 in the former Nyamugari Commune, Ruhengeri in 1951. He was a Minister of Health in the Interim Government of Rwanda during the genocide. He had held various positions prior to 1994 in Habyarimana’s party Mouvement Revolutionaire National pour le Development (MRND).  He held several portfolios in the MRND government until July 1994. During the  genocide, he was Minister of Health in the interim government. He took refuge in  Kenya and after a warrant of arrest was issued, Bizimungu was apprehended near his home in Hurlingham, in February 1999. 

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) issued an indictment against him and three other ministers, accusing them of conspiracy in genocide, genocide, direct and public incitement to genocide, and crimes against humanity

Dr Jean-Berchmans Nshimiyumuremyi

He was born in former Butaro Commune in Ruhengeri . In 1994, he was serving as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Rwanda (UNR). He was one of the leaders in the planning of the Genocide which took place at the University and in the town of Butare. He formed groups of murderers who spearheaded and encouraged the massacre of Tutsi in Butare town.

During his studies at the UNR in the early 1970s, he was a member of a group of Hutu extremists known as “Cercle des Intellectuals Rwandais a Butare’’ (Club of Rwandan intellectuals in Butare) which expelled Tutsi students from the university. That group comprised Hutu extremists like Joseph Nzirorera, Augustin Nduwayezu, Leon Mugesera, Ferdinand Nahimana, Charles Zirimwabagabo, Casimir Bizimungu, Juvenal Uwilingiyimana and Andre Ntagerura.

In November 2009, the Gacaca Court of Butare town sentenced him to life imprisonment in absentia after convicting him of genocide crimes, which included attending meetings preparing for the Genocide at Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Butare (CHUB), inciting staff to kill the Tutsi, including teachers and students. He lives in Gabon.

Dr Eugene Rwamucyo

He was born in the former Gatonde Commune in Ruhengeri. He was the director of the "Centre Universitaire de Santé Publique de Butare” (CUSP)- University of  Rwanda Centre for Public Health. Rwamucyo played a leading role in organising the genocide in Butare. He stands accused of ordering and encouraging Hutu mobs to dump the bodies of Tutsi victims in pits which had been already excavated before the massacres.

In September 2009, the Ngoma Gacaca Court sentenced him to life imprisonment in absentia after convicting him of forming gangs of killers that incited commission of genocide, supplying of killing tools, kidnapping Tutsi women and girls, and counting and identifying the dead.

He fled to France after the genocide. When he arrived there, he was offered a job at Lille University Hospital and later worked at Maubeuge Hospital, and was suspended in October 2009, after the hospital discovered that he had been involved in acts of  Genocide against the Tutsi.

In May 2010, he was arrested by Interpol based on an arrest warrant issued by the Rwandan Prosecutor General's Office. He was arrested at the Sannois Cemetery where he had gone to attend the burial ceremony of fellow genocidaire Jean Bosco Barayagwiza who had died in the United Nations prison in Benin where he was serving a 35-year prison sentence given by the ICTR.

Rwamucyo was jailed for four months and released in mid-September 2010. The Court of Appeal of Versailles (France) refused to extradite him to Rwanda but ruled that he should be prosecuted in France. In October 2020, the French magistrates ordered his return to the Court of Assise for judgment. He lives in France unperturbed.

Dr Jotham Nshimyumukiza

During the Genocide, he was the director of CHUB Hospital until he fled in July 1994 after the fall of Butare town. He is accused of killing patients, doctors, and nurses. It is alleged that he personally supervised the killing of Jean Claude Karekezi who was a nurse in front of patients. As the director general of the hospital, Nshimyumukiza became a ringleader in the extermination of Tutsi at CHUB.

Dr  Sosthène Munyemana 

He was born in  Musambira Commune (Gitarama) in  1955 and belonged to the Movement Democratique Republicain (MDR) Party. He also worked at the University Hospital in Butare as a gynaecologist, and a lecturer at the University of Rwanda, Faculty of Medicine.  African Rights, a human rights organisation, refers to Dr Munyemana as “the butcher of Tumba”.

During the genocide, he became the main killer of Tutsi in this locality.  Africa Rights alleged that he personally participated in the killings and incite others to commit crimes on a large scale. After the defeat of the genocidal government in July 1994, he fled to France where he continued his medical career at Villeneuve-sur-Lot Hospital until 2009 when he was suspended.

The Gacaca courts tried him in absentia for genocide crime he committed at CHUB and in Tumba suburb, in Ngoma commune  where he resided. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison in August 2007. In January 2010 the Ngoma Gacaca Court on appeal upheld his sentence in absentia after proving his role in the planning and execution of the Genocide in the City of Butare, especially at CHUB where he killed women and children. The atrocities he committed in Tumba included the incarceration of Tutsi in the Tumba Sector meeting hall.

He is also said to have distributed guns he had received from the then Prime Minister Jean Kambanda. He was also allegedly involved in the killings of Tutsi at Mukoni roadblock.  In December 2018, a French prosecutor decided to bring him to justice in the Bordeaux Tribunal of High Instance. The judicial procedure took its course but so far, he had never been brought to court. He lives scot-free in France.

Dr Seraphin Bararengana

He is the younger brother of late President Juvénal Habyarimana. He was the head of the Department of Medicine at the University Of Rwanda (UNR) for a long time. He was also a doctor at CHUB.

He was a member of the powerful AKAZU (inner circle) under his brother’s regime. In the run-up to the genocide, Dr Bararengana urged CHUB staff to take part in the killings and provided weapons. The Gacaca Court of Mamba Cell, Ngoma Sector sentenced him to 30 years imprisonment in absentia in September 2007. Others convicted for complicity in the same case were Dr Ignace Bigirimana, Dr Pierre Mugabo and Dr Alphonse Karemera. Dr Bararengana lives in Gabon.

Dr Berthe Nyiraruhango

She was an ophthalmologist married to Dr  Jean Nepocène Nsengiyumva. They both worked at the University of Rwanda Hospital. Dr Nyiraruhango had been cruel to Tutsi since 1990 when those who were called  “RPF-Inkotanyi accomplices” were being imprisoned. She prepared lists of Tutsi to be imprisoned. During the genocide, Dr Nyiraruhango persecuted Tutsi patients. She requested their IDs and took them to the Interahamwe and soldiers who came and took the patients away and killed them. She also refused to receive and treat Tutsi patients, saying she would not treat cockroaches.

 

After the genocide, she fled to Kenya. In September 2007, the Gacaca Court sentenced her to 30 years in prison in absentia. It is said that she died in exile. Her husband, Dr Nsengiyumva Jean Népomuscène, is being held at Huye Prison where he is serving 30 years in prison for his role in the genocide against the Tutsi.

Dr Pierre Mugabo

He is the son-in-law of Mbonyumutwa Dominique. In 1994 he worked at the "Pharmaceutical Laboratory" in Butare. He is alleged to have committed genocide at the University Hospital and was involved in the massacre at the roadblock in front of Hotel Faucon. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison by the Gacaca Court of Ngoma Sector, Huye District in September 2007 for the genocide crimes.

He also participated in an attack that took 25 children from Benebikira Sisters’ home Maison Generale and handed them over to militias to be killed. He committed genocide in collaboration with his wife, Felicité Musanganire, who worked at CUSP Butare. They both live in South Africa where Dr. Mugabo works at the University of the Western Cape, in the Department of Pharmacy. Both were convicted by Gacaca Courts in absentia for genocide crimes.