Uganda ? A Rwandan rebel convicted of killing eight tourists and a Ugandan guide on a gorilla-watching trip was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison.

Jean-Paul Bizimana, who could have received the death penalty for the 1999 killings, appealed for lenient punishment.

The judge nonetheless rejected prosecutors’ request for the death sentence.Three other men arrested in the killings have been sent to the United States to stand trial in the deaths of the two Americans – Rob Haubner and his wife, Susan Miller, of Portland, Ore. – who were killed along with tourists from Britain and New Zealand.

Rwanda rebels hacked and bludgeoned the travelers to death in a remote rain forest near Uganda’s borders with Congo and Rwanda where the party had gone to see the rare animals.

The rebels specifically targeted English-speaking people in a bid to weaken U.S. and British support for the new Rwandan government.