\nKigali, 25 January 2008 (FH) - The trial of Speciose Uwamwezi, a woman accused of having participated in road blocks where Tutsis were killed during the 1994 genocide, will resume Sunday before the traditional Gacaca court of the Nyakabanda sector, Kigali, it has been realiably learned.\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It is rare for a woman to be indicted for genocide charges since the Gacaca trials started here, reports Hirondelle News Agency.
\n
\nThe road blocks were essentially controlled by men.
\n
\nMrs Uwamwezi is charged for illegal weapon's possession, planning of genocide and murder, according to the League for Human Rights in the Great Lakes Region (LDGL).
\n
\nShe is also prosecuted for having refused to let into her home Tutsi children who were being chased by militiamen.
\n
\nDuring her first appearance last Sunday, she denied having refused these children, instead stated that she hosted them along with their mother,Marie Mukarwego, on the night of 6 April 1994 and that they had left her home three days later on their own volition.
\n
\n Three prosecution witnesses testified that the defendant had indeed refused these people entry into her house. However the claim was disputed by two defence witnesses.
\n
\nUwamwezi is on trial alongside her father Sylvain Muhizi and two of her brothers.
\n
\nThe gacaca courts are charged with trying the majority of the persons allegedly responsible for the genocide.
\n
\n The courts are not presided by lawyers but by people chosen from among the community for their integrity.
\n
\n According to UN estimates, about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the genocide.
\n
\nThe only woman indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, former Minister for the Family and Women's Development, accused of genocide and violations of Geneva Conventions.
\n
\nHer trial, along with five other co-defendants is currently underway at the Arusha-based tribunal.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nER\/PB\/MM\/SC
\n© Hirondelle News Agency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kigali, 25 January 2008 (FH) - The trial of Speciose Uwamwezi, a woman accused of having participated in road blocks where Tutsis were killed during the 1994 genocide, will resume Sunday before the traditional Gacaca court of the Nyakabanda sector, Kigali, it has been realiably learned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[555],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-19686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hirondellenews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n