Swedish court upholds life term for Rwandan man for genocide

KIGALI, Rwanda – An appellate court in Sweden has upheld a life sentence for a man from Rwanda who faced charges related to his role in the 1994 genocide in the East African country.

Claver Berinkindi, a Swedish citizen, had been found guilty of genocide and gross violation of international law in May 2015. He appealed the ruling, saying he was innocent.

Berinkindi came to Sweden as a refugee in 2002 and became a Swedish citizen 10 years later.

Rwandan authorities initially wanted to prosecute him in Rwanda but since he's a Swedish citizen he couldn't be extradited.

Some 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus, were killed by Hutu extremists during the genocide, according to the U.N.