A former Rwandan soldier Monday was convicted of murdering eight foreign tourists and one game warder in 1999 at Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable National Park on the border with Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Bizimana was charged with nine counts of capital murder of two Americans, four Britons, two New Zealanders and the game warden.

However, High Court Judge John Katutsi did not sentence the Rwandan, Jean-Paul Bizimana on Monday, saying he is still looking for an appropriate sentence which he will give on Friday.

Katutsi was quoted by the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) as saying that according to the evidence adduced by the prosecution he is convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Bizimana participated in the act of murdering the nine people.

"In this case, there can be no doubt that members of the group to which the accused belonged had a common purpose in murdering the tourists," said Judge Katutsi when he read the verdict.

He added that according to the extra judicial statement recorded from the accused by the former chief magistrate of Buganda Road Court, Deo Nizeimana, the accused Bizimana confessed that he participated, but since he had got saved, he asked for forgiveness.

Judge Katutsi further explained that Bizimana was found with a gun by the time of his arrest, which gave clear evidence that he murdered the deceased.

According to the prosecution read at the court, Bizimana and other suspects who are still at large led some 100 members of Rwanda's Interahamwe militia in kidnapping 14 tourists on a gorilla safari in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in southwestern Uganda in 1999.

After releasing six of the tourists, among them a French diplomat, the group used machetes and blunt objects to hack and bludgeon to death the remaining eight visitors. Then, they set ablaze the game warden.

Source: Xinhua