CANADA'S judicial system has meted out a life sentence for a Rwandan man convicted of helping direct the slaughter and rape of an estimated 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda in 1994.

Desire Munyaneza was convicted five months ago of charges including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. His case was the first test of Canada's 7-year-old law that allows trials on Canadian soil against those who have committed war crimes elsewhere.

According to court documents, Munyaneza, a Hutu, moved to Montreal in the years after the Rwandan attacks. He was arrested four years ago and was put on trial for leading a militia group that raped and murdered Tutsis and Hutus who opposed the attacks.

Justice Andre Denis said Munyaneza got a harsh sentence because of the severity of the crimes of rape and murder.

Munyaneza could be eligible for parole in 25 years. That hope for a life outside of prison is slender because many of the 66 witnesses who testified at Munyaneza's trial will undoubtedly argue against his release.

World governments did not respond appropriately to the Rwandan genocide 15 years ago. In recent years the United Nations' International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has indicted some of the leaders of the slaughter. Huge amounts of evidence has been collected by that and other groups to be used in the trials.

In this case the wheels of justice have moved too slowly, but they continue to move in nations far removed from the original crime.

Even greater international teamwork is needed to assure that those who break the law do not go unpunished.