U.N. court jails first woman for Rwandan genocide

The U.N. war crimes tribunal for Rwanda Friday sentenced former families minister Pauline Nyiramasuhuko to life in prison for her role in the 1994 genocide, the court said.

"Nyiramasuhuko and her son have been sentenced to jail for life in prison. Four other suspects were given different sentences," the ICTR spokesman Danford Mpumilwa told Reuters by telephone from the court.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, northern Tanzania, found Nyiramasuhuko, a former minister for family and women's development, guilty of charges including genocide and encouraging the rape of women during the slaughter of some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus between April and June 1994.