02.09.09 - GENOCIDE/BAZARAMBA - RWANDAN ACCUSED OF 1994 GENOCIDE APPEARS IN FINNISH COURT

Arusha, 2 September, 2009 (FH) - A Finnish court began hearing a case Tuesday against a Rwandan man suspected of taking part in the 1994 genocide mainly against ethnic Tutsis.

According to AFP dispatch, Francois Bazaramba, 58, listened calmly as the charges were read out by state prosecutor Raija Toiviainen, but pleaded innocent through his lawyer Ville Hoikkala. Bazaramba, a Hutu, is accused of genocide or alternatively 15 counts of murder. If found guilty, he could face a life sentence.

The prosecutor said the Rwandan, who worked as a Baptist minister, had ordered at least 15 Tutsis, some of them children, to be killed in the  municipality of Nyakizu in April 1994.

"Bazaramba has after mid-April 1994 ordered a Tutsi woman named Bellansilla Mugagashugi to be killed. After the order and when Bazaramba was present, the

woman was killed either by being beaten with a club or stabbed with a spear," Toiviainen alleged.

The district court in Porvoo, located some 50 kilometres (31 miles) northeast of the capital Helsinki, is processing Finland's first genocide case.  

SC/GF

© Hirondelle News Agency

Republish
Justice Info is now on WhatsApp
Discover our first WhatsApp Channel and receive real-time notification of every publication posted on our website, with a summary and extracts or quotes. Every evening, you'll have access to our review of the day's AFP dispatches. At the end of each week, a summary of our publications.