The appeals trial begins in Helsinki-Finland today, of an accused Rwandan genocide and other crimes against humanity described by prosecutors as “one of the most wanted perpetrators of the 1994 genocide that claimed over a million innocent Tutsis.
Francois Bazaramba, 60 appearing in photo above, was convicted of acts of genocide in a lower court in June 2010 and sentenced to life imprisonment, although he was acquitted of several of the murder charges, AFP reports
Exclusively speaking to igihe.com, Prosecuter general Martin Ngoga said, “The process in Finland is an appeal on extradition proceedings we initiated years back. we shall extend our cooperation to the extent its needed and see what the court decision will be. we appreciate the fact every step taken is towards finality of the matter.”
The defendant was accused among other things of murdering or ordering the murder of numerous Tutsis in the province, including women and children.
He was further accused of systematically persecuting and displacing Tutsis and seizing their property, and for participating in and partly ordering an ethnic purge in Cyahinda which left 37,000 people who had sought shelter in a church dead.
According to the ruling of the district court of Itae-Uusimaa last year, “For those crimes, the only possible punishment is life imprisonment.”
Bazaramba was arrested by Finnish police in April 2007 on suspicion of taking part in the Rwandan genocide, in which at least 800,000 people, most of them ethnic Tutsis, were killed within only 100 days by Hutu extremists.
Finnish courts decided to try Bazaramba since the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, set up in Tanzania by the United Nations, was no longer accepting new cases.
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