01.06.09 - ICTR/MUNYAKAZI - GENOCIDE: TRIAL OF OLDEST ICTR PRISONER RESUMES WEDNESDAY

Arusha, 1 June 2009 (FH) - The trial of oldest of the prisoners of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Yussuf Munyakazi,  accused of having killed ethnic Tutsis who had taken refuge in churches in 1994, will resume on Wednesday, reports Hirondelle Agency.

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The proceedings were adjourned on 28 April.

During this session which will last until 12 June, the prosecutor will call his last four witnesses.

Ten have already testified since the beginning of the trial on 22 April.

Prosecuted for genocide, complicity in the genocide and extermination, Munyakazi, 74, has pleaded his innocence.

According to testimonies heard so far, the former rich landowner converted into a small businessman has been accused to have toured the churches of the prefecture of Cyangugu (south-western Rwanda) in 1994, inciting killings of Tutsis.

Munyakazi was arrested in May 2004 in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where he was disguised as an Imam(Muslim Preacher), under the name of Mzee Mandevu (literally, the bearded old man in Kiswahili).

He is defended by Jwani Mwaikusa, a law professor from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

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© Hirondelle News Agency