Wenceslas Twagirayezu, 57, appeared in court in Hillerød, Denmark, this week to determine how his 20-year Rwandan prison sentence for genocide will be served under Danish law. He was convicted in Rwanda for participating in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, where approximately 800,000 people, primarily Tutsis, were killed.

Twagirayezu, a former schoolteacher, had been living in Denmark as a warehouse worker and obtained Danish citizenship. Danish authorities had been investigating him for several years before receiving an extradition request from Rwanda in 2014. He was extradited to Rwanda in 2018, where he was initially acquitted in January 2024, only to be sentenced to 20 years upon appeal six months later.

According to the extradition agreement, Twagirayezu was returned to Denmark in August 2024 to serve his sentence. The Danish court must now determine a sentence under Danish law based on the Rwandan conviction.

Defense lawyer Eddie Khawaja is seeking to have the case dismissed, arguing that the legal basis is insufficient. Failing that, he will request a waiver of the sentence or, at least, a mitigation. The prosecution has not yet revealed the sentence they will seek, but under Danish law, the maximum sentence is life imprisonment, although it cannot exceed the 20-year sentence given in Rwanda.