Part of the trial of a Rwandan -born Porvoo resident who is being charged with taking part in the genocide of 1994 is to be held in Rwanda.
Porvoo District Court judge Petra Spring-Reiman says that the judges, the prosecutor, and the defendant and his counsel will travel to Rwanda for nearly a month to hear testimony from 38 prosecution witnesses.
The trial will begin with a two-day preparatory hearing on June 16th in Porvoo.
After the preparatory phase, the court will send Rwandan officials a request to allow the holding of part of the Finnish trial in Rwanda.
The court had previously considered questioning the witnesses by video link, but this would have made it more difficult for the judges on the panel to evaluate the reliability of the witnesses.
Finnish officials decided against flying the witnesses to Finland. It was felt that such a move would impose unreasonable hardship on the witnesses, many of whom are farmers.
Spring-Reiman also noted that some of the witnesses could not be brought to Finland, as they are in prison.
Porvoo District Court has not calculated how much the excursion to Rwanda would cost. “However, it will be cheaper than bringing the witnesses to Finland would have been”, Spring-Reiman points out.
The main part of the trial is expected to start in the late summer. A verdict is not expected until next year.
