Man living in Porvoo indicted for involvement in Rwanda genocide

A Rwandan man living in Porvoo has been officially indicted for involvement in the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. The defence says that the trial should begin in the late summer, at the earliest.
      In 1994 extremist elements among Rwanda’s Hutus launched a spree of mass killings in which about 800,000 members of the Tutsi tribe as well as moderate Hutus were killed. The defendant in the case is accused of being responsible for thousands of killings. The highest estimates are of more than 20,000 deaths.
     
Rwandan prosecutors say that the man had been in in the Nyakizu area at the time of the genocide, and had led the country’s league of Baptist congregations.
      The defendant denies the charges. His lawyer Ville Hoikkala says that he had not been in a position in which he could have presided over any killings. “I know Tutsis whom he has helped.”
      Hoikkala is also critical of the fact that the charges were filed before the further investigations that he had called for had been implemented. The defence also alleges that many of the prosecution witnesses had been tortured to elicit their statements.
     
State Prosecutor Raija Toiviainen, who issued the decision to prosecute, did not want to comment on the matter before Monday.
      Practical arrangements for the Porvoo trial are challenging. Witnesses in Rwanda can be questioned by video link. They can be interviewed in person in Rwanda, or they can be brought to Finland. Questioning on neutral soil is also possible.
      The maximum punishment for mass destruction is a life sentence, which can be handed down even if a defendant has not personally killed anyone. The defendant in this case is suspected of having planned and led mass killings.
     
The defendant, who is being held in remand in Vantaa, was officially informed of the charges on Sunday evening. He has been in custody since April 2007.
      Pre-trail detention rarely lasts longer than three months in Finland. This time, the lengthy police investigation has extended the remand period to more than two years. Investigators of Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) have made several visits to Rwanda to interivew witnesses and to gather evidence.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Police suspect Rwandan-born Porvoo resident took part in 1994 genocide (5.2.2009)
  Finnish police investigators arrive in Rwanda to investigate genocide charges (10.5.2007)
  COMMENTARY: Rwanda genocide case tests international reach of Finnish law (17.4.2007)
  New evidence in case of Rwandan suspected of genocide (30.3.2009)
  Finland will not extradite suspected war criminal to Rwanda (20.2.2009)
  Finland holds Rwandan man suspected of involvement in genocide (10.4.2007)