Former Rwandan militia leader enters not guilty plea to genocide at UN tribunal

A former Rwandan militia leader appearing before the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) pleaded not guilty today to charges that he directed and participated in massacres of Tutsi minorities in two south-western Rwandan provinces during the 1994 genocide.

Yussufu Munyakazi pleaded not guilty to two of the charges against him: genocide or complicity to genocide; and extermination as a crime against humanity. He was indicted by the ICTR in November 2000, but was arrested just last week in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and transferred Friday to the tribunal's detention facilities in Arusha, Tanzania.

The 69-year-old Munyakazi, formerly a prominent businessman and farmer, is accused of leading the Interahamwe militia of Bugarame commune in the Rwandan province of Cyangugu. The militia carried out widespread massacres in both Cyangugu and neighbouring Kibuye province between 6 April and 17 July 1994.

According to the indictment, he is alleged to have planned, instigated, ordered, participated in and otherwise aided and abetted the killing of Tutsi civilians who took refuge in several churches.