Ex-president pleads not guilty
2004-05-19 12:12
Kigali - Rwanda's former president Pasteur Bizimungu pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to state security charges, a day after the prosecution in the two-year-old trial called for him to be jailed for the rest of his life.
"My clients plead not guilty," said Jean-Bosco Kazungu, the lawyer representing Bizimungu and co-accused Charles Ntakirutinka, who served as transport minister under the former president.
Six other people are also in the dock in the same case.
The main charges against Bizimungu, who has been detained since 2002, are linked to his attempt to set up a political party in 2002 with the aim of overthrowing the government.
Bizimungu also faces charges of diverting state resorces, fraud, and possession of an illegal weapon, crimes for which the prosecutor demanded jail terms of 20, 10, and one year respectively.
- AFP