The next hearing is set for November 19. According to French News Agency (AFP), the postponement is to allow Mugesera, a Rwandan scholar, extra time to study his 40,000-page case file from Canada.
Mugesera was extradited from Canada in January this year after a legal battle lasting more than 15 years. He is accused of inciting genocide in a 1992 speech delivered in Kinyarwanda, during a meeting of his political party in northern Rwanda.
His trial was set to commence on Monday, September 17, but the defendant requested for the adjournment to give him more time to study the case’s dossier.
"The court has granted Mugesera two months for one reason - the time he needs to review his Canadian dossier," the news agency quoted Judge Athanase Bakuzakundi as saying.
Mugesera and his lawyer had also said the prosecutor's office should have the case file in Kinyarwanda translated into English and French to enable foreign lawyers to represent him.
But the court dismissed the argument. "The other reasons, the court finds them not sufficient to delay the trial," Bakuzakundi is quoted as saying.
On September 28, the Supreme Court is expected to hand down its ruling on a separate suit filed by Mugesera on a procedural issue.
FK/NI
