The Hague - A former Rwandan tea factory boss who joined in the slaughter of thousands of Tutsi refugees in 1994 had his genocide verdict and life sentence upheld by UN appeals judges yesterday.
But the panel of five judges quashed a rape conviction against Alfred Musema (52) after hearing additional witnesses. He participated in three months of murder, launched by Hutu extremists, that killed an estimated 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderates from the majority Hutu ethnic group. Musema organised and took part in atrocities against people who took refuge in his tea factory in Gisovu in western Rwanda. Many of the victims were the factory's employees.