A former Rwandan mayor has been sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment for his role in the 1994 genocide, according to reports reaching in Dar Es Salaam on Saturday.

The United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda ( ICTR) on Thursday sentenced Paul Bisengimana to 15 years in jail after the former mayor of Gikoro in central Rwanda had pleaded guilty to murder and extermination of Tutsi civilians.

The former Gikoro mayor has struck a plea bargain with the prosecution of the UN court based in Arusha of northern Tanzania.

Paul Bisengimana was arrested in Mali on December 4, 2001.

He became the 27th person tried by the UN ICTR court and he is the fifth who chose to plead guilty. Twenty-two others chose to plead not guilty.

Paul Bisengimana's defense lawyer, Catherine Mabille, said that the long prison sentence would discourage other accused from entering plea bargains with the UN court.

The former mayor was reported to have entered a plea bargain on the agreement that he would serve a period of between 12 and 14 years in jail.

Source: Xinhua