François Bazaramba

François Bazaramba (1 January 1951 – 16 January 2026) was a Rwandan sentenced to life imprisonment in Finland for participating in the Rwandan genocide in 1994. The Bazaramba case is historic in Finnish legal history because it was the first time anyone was sentenced under Finland's "crimes against humanity" laws (section 1 of Chapter 11 of the Criminal Code) since the international norms against genocide were implemented in national law. The case was appealed up to the Supreme Court of Finland, which upheld the conviction.

Biography While living in Rwanda, Bazaramba worked as a teacher and a headmaster for a vocational school. Later he became a pastor in the Zambian Baptist Church.

Bazaramba arrived in Finland in 2003 as a refugee. Bazaramba was taken into custody in 2007.

The trial started in June 2009 in the District Court of Porvoo. In September, the court travelled to Rwanda to hear witnesses. Bazaramba stayed in Finland and watched the sessions via a video link which was translated into French to him because he didn't speak Finnish.

In February 2010, the court travelled to Tanzania to hear witnesses from five African countries. All together, more than 60 witnesses were heard. He appealed to the Supreme Court of Finland, which denied the appeal.

In 2013, Bazaramba appealed to the European Court of Human Rights with the claim that some of the witnesses had been tortured.

In January 2019, the Helsinki Court of Appeal rejected Bazaramba's request to be paroled.

On 16 January 2026, Bazaramba was found unconscious in the sauna of Kerava Prison, Finland. He was declared dead immediately after. Bazaramba was 75.