The Military Tribunal on Monday 19th handed the self-exiled former defence minister Brig. Gen. BEM Emmanuel Habyarimana a five -year jail sentence for deserting the army.

Handing down the sentence at the Tribunal offices in Nyamirambo, Brig. Gen. Frank Rusagara, who presided over the Tribunal, also stripped Habyarimana of his army rank.

The court also gave separate five year prison terms to dissident ex-lawmaker Col. Barthazar Ndengeyinka and Lt. Francis Ndayambaje. The duo deserted the army along with Habyarimana on March 30, 2003. They were all prosecuted and sentenced in absentia after Military Prosecutor Fidel Uwimana, asked for sentences to be passed against the former officers.

Habyarimana fled while still a minister of defence, while Ndengeyinka had just been withdrawn from his position as an Army MP in the transitional Parliament and returned to active military service. Lt. Ndayambaje escaped from a military training facility in Gako.

A source said the Rwandan government would now send the verdict to the countries that host the officers. Reports indicate that Habyarimana is currently in Switzerland and said to be studying political economics.

However, previous reports had linked him to rebel activity in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.