Mugesera was extradited from Canada in January this year after a legal battle lasting more than 15 years. He is accused of inciting genocide in a 1992 speech delivered in Kinyarwanda, during a meeting of his political party in northern Rwanda.
His trial was due to start on February 2, 2012, but Mugesera had asked for additional time to make sure his defence team would be complete. He was also requesting that the official language for the trial would be French and not Kinyarwanda. At last, he had argued that one of his lawyers had given up on his case while keeping the files.
“ The opening of the trial has been set up for September 17, before a special chamber of the High Court of Kigali”, Rwandan courts’ spokesperson Charles Kaliwabo told Hirondelle News agency.
The High Court was created in February 2012 to try cases referred by the International criminal court for Rwanda (ICTR) and other foreign countries.
Mugesera’s defence lawyer Felix Rudakemwa told Hirondelle News agency that they would be ready.
Hailing from Northern Rwanda, Mugesera was in 1992 one of the vice-presidents of the then ruling MRND party.
SRE/ER/GF