During Wednesday's hearing, which should last only a few minutes, the indictment will be read out to the defendant, for him to plead guilty or not guilty. The registrar will then set a date for the beginning of the trial.
Hailing from northern Rwanda, Captain Ildephonse Nizeyimana was at the time under consideration, in 1994, second in command of the Non-commissioned Officers School (Ecole des sous-officiers, ESO) in Butare, in the south of his country.
According to the indictment, Nizeyimana ordered his men, on April 20 1994, to kill Rosalie Gicanda, the widow of the last but one king of Rwanda, Mutara III Rudahigwa. The prosecutor further alleges that Nizeyimana drew up lists of Tutsi intellectuals to be killed at the National University of Rwanda (Université nationale du Rwanda, UNR) in Butare.
Captain Nizeyimana was arrested on October 5, while sleeping in a small hotel in Kampala.
According to the Ugandan daily The Monitor, the defendant was running a small business in Goma (East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC). Being wanted by the ICTR, he frequently changed his identity. He entered Uganda under the false name of Hitimana Kabogo.
Born in Karago commune, as late president Juvenal Habyarimana, Nizeyimana was on a list of ICTR's thirteen most wanted fugitives. The US government has promised 5 million dollars for any information leading to their arrest.
According to The Monitor, Kampala is now claiming the reward.
ER/GF
© Agence Hirondelle