The defence of a Rwandan man suspected of participation in the genocide in the country in 1994 has brought forward new witnesses shortly before official charges were to have been filed.
According to lawyer Ville Hoikkala, the new witnesses were recently released from prison.
“I have met people who are witnesses to torture that took place in a prison in Rwanda. They say that the evidence againt my client was obtained through torture”, Hoikkala said to Helsingin Sanomat.
The witnesses were held in prison in Rwanda for a long period of time. Now they are elsewhere in Africa.
Hoikkala says that the reason why the Rwandan government uses torture to gather evidence is that the genocide is being used as a means of persecuting political opponents.
Thomas Elfgren of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) confirms that the allegations are being investigated.
“However, the claims are not new, and they were taken into consideration earlier.”
An estimated 800,000 people were killed in the Rwandan genocide of 1994. The suspect came to Finland as an asylum seeker in 2003.
