Rwanda suspect pleads not guilty

Rwanda suspect pleads not guilty

About 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in the 1994 genocide [EPA] One of the top suspects in Rwanda's 1994 genocide has pleaded not guilty to war crimes charges. Idelphonse Nizeyimana, accused of orchestrating the killings of thousands, entered his plea on Wednesday at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), based in Arusha, Tanzania. Nizeyimana was an intelligence chief at the time of the genocide. He is accused of ordering the killing of children, hospital patients, priests and even an elderly and revered African queen. He had been on the run for 15 years with a $5m bounty on his head when he was captured in Uganda earlier this month. Search for justice The tribunal, which is due to finish its work by the end of next year, says it is still trying to find 11 fugitives.  In depth  The Rwandan genocide and its legacy  Revisiting Rwanda's dark days   Video: Rwanda pastor on trial So far 40 people have been convicted of crimes connected with the genocide. The court, set up in 1997 to try the masterminds of the massacres, had until last year to complete all trials, and has until 2010 to hear all appeals. Martin Ngoga, Rwanda's prosecutor general, told Al Jazeera: "The ICTR has done a commendable job in bringing to justice those most responsible for the genocide; those who were in positions of leadership and most importantly, those who were beyond the reach of our national jurisdiction. "Unfortunately we haven't succeeded to have a single case transferred to Rwanda," he said. On April 6, 1994, Juvenal Habyarimana, Rwanda's president, and Cyprien Ntaryamira, the president of neighbouring Burundi, were killed when their plane was shot down as it flew to Kigali, the Rwandan capital. Habyarimana's death signalled the beginning of a 100-day massacre, perpetrated mainly by Hutus against Tutsis and moderate Hutus. Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies