The witness, who testified under the pseudonym "CBP-77" for safety reasons, added that the attack was launched with armed rifles around 20 April at the Kansi Parish Church, where several Tutsis had sought refuge.
He rejected the prosecutor's argument that Rwandan gendarmes had launched the attack.
"I knew the uniform of the gendarmes, if they had been there, I would have recognized them", stressed the witness, who was testifying for the defence of General Augustin Ndindiliyimana, former Chief of Staff of the
Gendarmerie, during 1994 genocide.
Accused of crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, the General is in particularly prosecuted for not having sanctioned gendarmes implicated in the massacres.
The witness indicated to have seen gendarmes only at the residence of the defendant located, according to him, between two and three kilometres from the Parish.
General Ndindiliyimana is on trial alongside three other officers of the former Rwandan Armed Forces (RAF), including the former army Chief of Staff, General Augustin Bizimungu.
ER/PB/MM/SC/GF
© Hirondelle News Agency
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