Tharcisse Renzaho
Tharcisse Renzaho (born 17 July 1944) is a Rwandan former army officer and politician who was convicted as a war criminal for his role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. He was born in Gaseta, Kigarama, Kibungo, Rwanda-Urundi. He trained as a military engineer in Germany, France and Belgium, and later became a colonel in the Rwandan Armed Forces. In 1990 he entered politics as a member of the MRND party led by President Juvénal Habyarimana. He served as governor of Kigali-ville prefecture and led the Civil Defence for Kigali.
The ICTR prosecutor says he helped carry out the genocide between April and July 1994, by setting up roadblocks to stop and kill Tutsis, firing staff who resisted, personally ordering detentions and killings, giving weapons to the killers, and ordering the murder of journalist André Kameya.
After the genocide, he fled to Zaire. He was arrested on 26 September 2002 in the Democratic Republic of Congo and handed to the ICTR on 29 September 2002. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on 14 July 2009, and the Appeals Chamber confirmed the sentence on 1 April 2011. He remains imprisoned.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 17:59 (CET).