KIGALI, April 27 (Reuters) - A Rwandan court jailed a Hutu general for life on Friday for his role in the 1994 genocide of some 800,000 civilians, mostly ethnic Tutsis.

Major-General Laurent Munyakazi was found guilty of 13 charges including genocide, conspiracy to murder and the illegal distribution of firearms to militia groups.

"The military high court finds the accused guilty of these grave crimes and hereby upholds a ruling (by a military tribunal) sentencing you to life imprisonment," the court said.

Munyakazi, who defected to the Tutsi-led rebels of current President Paul Kagame in 1995, was the most senior army officer to be convicted of genocide by Rwanda's courts.

Other top commanders accused of being the architects of the slaughter are on trial at the United Nation's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, northern Tanzania.

Munyakazi can appeal to Rwanda's Supreme Court.

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