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A Rwandan court sentenced former President Pasteur Bizimungu to 15 years in jail on Monday for creating a militia, embezzling state funds and inciting ethnic violence in a country still scarred by the 1994 genocide.
Bizimungu, thought to be in his 50s, received the sentence for threatening national security with the creation of a militia group, embezzling at least $US100,000 meant for genocide orphans and inciting ethnic violence.
He was accused of committing the crimes after he resigned as Rwanda's first post-genocide president in 2000.
He denied all the charges.
Critics say his trial was politically motivated. After his resignation Bizimungu became a vocal critic of the government and tried to form a political party.
"For the above-mentioned charges, Bizimungu is guilty of, we sentence him to a total of 15 years in prison," a panel of three judges in Rwanda's court of first instance told the court.
Prosecutors had demanded life imprisonment.
More than 100 people crowded into the small courtroom, sitting on wooden benches and listening impassively as the verdict was read out.
"Fifteen years in prison is a heavy sentence for nothing," Bizimungu told Reuters as he was led away by armed police.
His lawyer declined to say whether Bizimungu would appeal the ruling.
Hutu-Tutsi double act
An ethnic Hutu, Bizimungu became president when the ruling Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) took power in 1994 after the genocide in which extremists from the Hutu majority butchered 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.
Paul Kagame, whose Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Army ended the hundred days of slaughter, was vice-president.
The double-act of Bizimungu, a French-speaking Hutu, and Kagame, an English-speaking Tutsi, was intended to symbolise post-genocide reconciliation. But their relationship soured, and in March 2000, Bizimungu resigned after falling out with top RPF members over the make-up of a new cabinet.
Human rights group Amnesty International criticised Bizimungu's trial, saying some of the evidence had been obtained under torture.
"It's very rare for a head of state to be imprisoned and any time that happens you have to have really solid evidence - that doesn't appear to have been the case here," said Stephanie Brancaforte, of Amnesty International.
At least one prosecution witness withdrew his original statement during the trial, saying he had made it out of fear.
"There will be reduced faith in the judiciary," Brancaforte told Reuters by telephone from the Ugandan capital Kampala.
"The process hasn't conformed to the international standards for a fair trial. The defendants didn't have all the privileges they should have," she added.
Rwanda's deputy state prosecutor Martin Ngoga told Reuters: "We think the process has been fair. An appeal can be made by either side, both for the prosecution and those who have been convicted."
The court also sentenced former transport minister Charles Ntakirutinka to 10 years in jail for his role in setting up the militia. It found Bizimungu innocent of a further charge of illegally possessing a firearm.
Rwanda's judicial system is modelled on the French legal system
where judges from the court of first instance are
state-appointed.
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