( CNN ) -- A war crimes tribunal for Rwanda sentenced the African nation 's former army chief to 30 years in prison Tuesday for his part in the 1994 genocide that killed 800,000 people . The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda ( ICTR ) found Augustin Bizimungu guilty on six counts of genocide , crimes against humanity for murder , extermination and rape and violations of the Geneva Conventions . During the genocide , soldiers and police under Bizimungu 's command directed the extermination of tens of thousands of Tutsi civilians who had taken refuge in churches , hospitals and schools , according to Human Rights Watch . Soldiers and police also ordered civilian officials and ordinary citizens to join in hunting down and killing the Tutsi and punished them if they failed to do so , the human rights monitoring group said . Bizimungu fled to Angola , where he was arrested in 2002 and transferred to the tribunal . In 2004 , he was charged with directly ordering brutal acts against Tutsis and failing to halt the acts of his subordinates . He denied the charges . The tribunal also convicted two other senior officers -- François-Xavier Nzuwonemeye and Innocent Sagahutu -- who each got 20 years in prison . The Rwandan genocide was triggered by the April 6 , 1994 , shooting down of a plane carrying the nation 's Hutu president . Ethnic violence erupted and Tutsis were killed systematically by Hutus . The United Nations estimates that some 200,000 people participated in the perpetration of the Rwandan genocide . In all , 800,000 Tutsi men , women , and children -- as well as moderate Hutus -- perished .
A war crimes tribunal found General Smith guilty on 6 counts . He had fled to Angola and was arrested there in 2002 . About 800,000 people were killed in Angola .