Rwanda genocide 'kingpin' dies in prison

A former Rwandan army colonel convicted for his role in the massacre of some 800,000 people in the 1994 genocide has died in Mali, where he was in prison.

Théoneste Bagosora, 80, was a senior figure in Rwanda's ministry of defence at the time of the killings, reports BBC.

A UN-backed criminal tribunal sentenced him to life in prison, but this was later reduced to 35 years.

His son Achille told the BBC he died at a hospital in Bamako, where he was being treated for heart issues.

Around 800,000 people - mostly from the Tutsi ethnic group - were killed in 100 days during the genocide.

The massacres began after a plane carrying Rwanda's then-President Juvenal Habyarimana was shot down on 6 April 1994, killing everyone on board.

Bagosora was arrested two years later in Cameroon, where he had fled to after Paul Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front seized power.

In 2008, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda found him guilty of crimes against humanity, and for orchestrating the murder of several political figures, including Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana.