Man to face genocide charges
2009-06-01 11:44
A Finnish prosecutor said on Monday she had decided to press charges against a Rwandan man suspected of taking part in the African country's 1994 genocide.
"It is obvious according to the pre-trial investigation that the man has committed a crime of genocide in the municipality of Nyakizu in April and May 1994 with intent to destroy the Rwandan Tutsis partly or totally," state prosecutor Raija Toiviainen said in a statement.
The man, a Hutu, will be charged with genocide, alternatively 15 counts of murder. If found guilty, he risks a life sentence.
The Rwandan genocide claimed the lives of some 800 000 mostly ethnic Tutsis but also moderate Hutus.
The 58-year-old suspect has denied the charges. Finnish authorities have not disclosed the man's name, but according to Rwandan authorities he is Baptist minister Francois Bazaramba.
He moved to Finland in 2003, and was arrested in April 2007 on suspicion of planning, leading and carrying out the massacre. He has been held in police custody since his arrest.
Video link
In February, the Finnish government rejected an extradition request by Rwanda over fears he would not receive a fair trial there.
The case is Finland's first genocide trial, and will be held in Porvoo district court. A date is yet to be announced.
Finnish law states that crimes committed abroad can be tried in Finland.
The pre-trial investigation was carried out by the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation with help from Rwandan legal authorities. More than a hundred witnesses in many African countries have been interviewed for the case.
Toiviainen said some foreign witnesses could be invited to Finland to testify, some witness statements might be taken abroad and in some cases a video link might be used.
Finnish police started to investigate the case after the immigration service had looked into man's background when he applied for asylum in the Nordic country.
- SAPA