[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda [official website] Monday upheld the life sentence [PDF opinion; press release] of serial rapist Mikaeli "Mika" Muhimana [case documents; JURIST report]. Muhimana, formerly a councilor for the western Rwandan province of Kibuyea, was sentenced to life in prison [PDF order] in 2005 after being convicted of committing genocide, rape, and murder of Tutsi [Wikipedia profile] victims.

The court allowed in part two of Muhimana's 16 grounds of appeal. With two judges dissenting, the majority overturned the trial court's finding of criminal responsibility for the rapes of two Tutsi victims, but unanimously upheld convictions on the rapes of five others. The court unanimously upheld his conviction for genocide, dismissed his other grounds of appeal, and upheld his life sentence. Up to 77 percent of ethnic Tutsi's were killed in the 1994 Rwandan genocide [PBS report]. AP has more.