According to the scheduling order made available to Hirondelle News agency Thursday, the trial would be conducted by Trial Chamber III composed of Judge Florence Rita Arrey, Presiding from Cameroon, Russian Judge Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov and Judge Aydin Sefa Akay from Turkey.
Ndahimana is charged with genocide or complicity in genocide, in the alternative and extermination as crimes against humanity. Between April 6 and 20, 1994, it is alleged, the defendant was responsible for killing or causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the Tutsi population.
He is alleged to have planned the massacres at Nyange Parish jointly with genocide-convict, Father Athanase Seromba, who has since been sentenced to life imprisonment and genocide-suspect still at large, Fulgence Kayishema. In these massacres, more than 2000 Tutsi refugees were killed.
Ndahimana, born in 1952, was arrested on August 10, 2009 at Kachuga Camp in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during a combined operation by the ICTR, the United Nations Mission in the DRC (MONUC) and the DRC law enforcement agencies.
He was transferred to the United Nations Detention Facility in Arusha on August 21, 2009. He made his initial appearance on September 28, 2009 and pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
No date has so far been set for trial of another genocide-suspect and former army officer of the Rwandan Armed Forces, Capt. Idelphonse Nizeyimana.
FK/ER/GF
© Hirondelle News Agency