( CNN ) -- A United Nations court convicted a former governor of Rwanda to life in prison for his role in a 1994 genocide that left about 800,000 dead in the central African country . An estimated 800,000 people -- mainly Tutsis -- were killed in Rwanda in 1994 . Tharcisse Renzaho was found guilty of genocide , crimes against humanity and war crimes . The verdict , delivered Tuesday , is the third judgment on charges of genocide delivered this year by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda ( ICTR ) . The U.N. court is holding hearings in Arusha , Tanzania , where it is based . Renzaho was governor of the capital , Kigali , and a colonel in the Rwandan Armed Forces in 1994 during the country 's genocide , when extremist militias made up of ethnic Hutus slaughtered ethnic Tutsis across Rwanda . It began in April of that year and within 100 days , an estimated 800,000 people were killed . The court found that Renzaho ordered soldiers , police and militias to set up roadblocks to identify Tutsi civilians to be executed . It found he ordered the distribution of weapons to people who then killed Tutsis . Renzaho also supervised a selection process at a refugee site where about 40 Tutsis were abducted and killed , the court found . Renzaho participated in an attack at the Sainte Famille church in which more than 100 Tutsis were killed . People across Rwanda sought refuge in churches all over the country as the genocide unfolded . He also made remarks encouraging the sexual abuse of women , according to the court , and was found criminally liable for the rapes that followed . The genocide ended when Tutsi-led militias backing Rwandan President Paul Kagame ousted the Hutu government supporting the massacre . Renzaho was arrested in September 2002 in the Democratic Republic of Congo . His trial began in January 2007 and closed in September that year after hearing from 53 witnesses , including Renzaho . Throughout the trial , Renzaho maintained his innocence and said he had no association with the militia . Renzaho 's lawyer blamed the case on political interference by the Rwandan government . Renzaho has the right to appeal the verdict . The decision is the third judgment on charges of genocide delivered this year by the tribunal . Emmanuel Rukundo , a former military chaplain , was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity and sentenced to 25 years in prison . The court found Rukundo had a history of contempt for Tutsis and his fellow clergymen , and that he ordered the killings of Tutsi civilians . Callixte Kalimanzira was sentenced to 30 years in prison for genocide and incitement to commit genocide . The court found that Kalimanzira , a senior civil servant who at one point worked with the Interior Ministry , participated in various massacres of Tutsi civilians and actively encouraged other crimes against them . Prosecutors at his trial said he beat some Tutsis to death and called for the elimination of all Tutsis , including pregnant women and their babies .
Tharcisse Renzaho guilty of genocide , crimes against humanity , war crimes . 3rd genocide judgment this year by International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda . Renzaho governor of Kigali in 1994 during the country 's genocide . Court : " The court finds that President Habyarimana and his government were responsible for the deaths of at least some 800,000 people between April and December 1994."