Rwandan senator Jean de Dieu Mucyo fell and died on Monday morning in his office, the parliament has said.

Mr Mucyo, who served in various high-ranking positions including as a Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General, slipped and fell on the stairs to his office at the Senate.

According to sources in parliament, the legislator was quickly rushed to King Faisal Hospital after he hit his head on the steps, but it was too late to save his life.

His demise was confirmed by the Senate Vice President Jeanne d'Arc Gakuba, who described Mr Mucyo, 54, as a diligent public servant who served the country honourably up to the time of his death.

"It is with heavy hearts and great sorrow that the Senate of Rwanda announces that Honourable Mucyo Jean de Dieu has passed away on October 3, 2016 in the morning, as a result of a stairway fall in the Senate building. Our thoughts are with the family of Senator Mucyo," President of the Senate Bernard Makuza said in a statement.

Mr Mucyo, a genocide survivor, played a key role in the country’s fight against genocide and was behind a number of the legislations against genocide denial and ideology.

Rwandans took to social media to express their sorrow with many describing Mr Mucyo as an amiable and dignified person.

“I am very saddened to hear about the death of Senator Mucyo Jean de Dieu at King Faisal Hospital. You have been a best friend, very patriotic and a freedom fighter. It's a very big loss for our country,” said MP Jean Marie Vianney Gatabazi.

Fight against genocide

Mr Mucyo was nominated to the Senate by President Paul Kagame in May 2015 after serving as that executive secretary of the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG), a position he had occupied since 2008.

Prior to that, he had led a commission between 2006 and 2008, commonly known as the ‘Mucyo Commission’, which investigated the role of France in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. In August 2008, the commission released a report saying the French were complicit in the massacre, a position that escalated the diplomatic feud between Kigali and Paris.

Mr Mucyo served as the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General from 1999 to 2003, before becoming the Prosecutor General, a position he held until 2006. He also served in the military, retiring in 2003 at the rank of captain.