\nArusha, May 13, 2010 (FH) - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will deliver its verdict in Yussuf Munyakazi's trial "at the end of June", ICTR spokesman Roland Amoussouga told Hirondelle News Agency on Thursday.\n<\/p>\n
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\nYussuf Munyakazi, aged 75 and a father of thirteen, is the oldest ICTR inmate. In the 1990s, he was a wealthy landowner turned into a prosperous businessman.\n<\/p>\n
\nHe is charged with genocide and extermination. According to the indictment, he was in 1994 the head of the Interahamwe militia in his hometown of Bugarama (Cyangugu prefecture).\n<\/p>\n
\nThe Prosecution accuses Munyakazi of having led murderous attacks against Tutsis who had sought refuge in churches in three parishes, Nyamasheke, Shangi and Mibilizi.\n<\/p>\n
\nMunyakazi denies any responsibility.\n<\/p>\n
\nHis trial started on April 22, 2009. On January 28, 2010, Nigerian prosecutor Segun Jegede requested the maximum penalty arguing that the accused had been part of "a well orchestrated campaign aiming at the elimination of Tutsis".\n<\/p>\n
\nThe defendant's lead counsel, Tanzanian Jwani Mwaikusa, requested his client's acquittal. He pleaded that Yussuf Munyakazi had neither been a militia leader nor participated in any killings.\n<\/p>\n
\nAccording to the defence lawyer, the sole connection between his client and the Interahamwe was the fact that a member of the militia, Tarek Aziz, rented one of Munyakazi's houses.\n<\/p>\n
\nYussuf Munyakazi was arrested in May 2004 in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where he lived as an Imam (Muslim religious leader) under a false identity.\n<\/p>\n
\nER\/GF\n<\/p>\n
\n© Hirondelle News Agency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arusha, May 13, 2010 (FH) - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) will deliver its verdict in Yussuf Munyakazi's trial "at the end of June", ICTR spokesman Roland Amoussouga told Hirondelle News Agency on Thursday.<\/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-22486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hirondellenews"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n