Rwanda’s former spy chief has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for being involved in the 1994 genocide.

On Friday, a French court found Pascal Simbikangwa guilty of perpetrating genocide and of complicity in crimes against humanity.

The defense requested acquittal and said the trial was politically motivated.

Simbikangwa, who has been in a wheelchair since a car accident in 1986, denied the charges brought against him and called on the court to realize his “innocence.”

“To all Tutsi victims, I am thinking of them. Sorry for the weaknesses of my condition that did not allow me to help you like I would have wanted to.”

However, prosecutors have asked for life imprisonment for the 54-year-old former member of the Rwandan presidential guard, calling him an “ethnic cleanser.”

They also said he was “radically committed” to his work and was “capable of the worst.”

Outside the court, activists slammed the French government for its complicity in the genocide by allowing criminals to flee punishment and live in France.

Simbikangwa has that said he had not seen a single corpse during the Rwandan genocide.

The Rwandan genocide began after the plane of the country’s Hutu president, Juvenal Habyarimana, was shot down on April 6, 1994, and Hutus were incited to commit acts of ethnic violence against Tutsis. Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira was also killed in the plane crash. About 800,000 to one million people, mainly Tutsis, were killed.

Simbikangwa has been accused of inciting, organizing, and supporting Hutu militia in massacres during the violence in the country.

The genocide of 1994 lasted approximately 100 days and has been called the “100 Days of Hell.”