Former Rwandan official pleads not guilty before UN genocide tribunal

A former Rwandan official who is alleged to have planned the killing of up to 25,000 Tutsis during the country’s 1994 genocide today pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him at the United Nations war crimes tribunal set up to deal with the mass killings.

Dominique Ntawukuriryayo is facing charges at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) – which is based in Arusha, Tanzania – of genocide, complicity in genocide, and direct and public incitement to commit genocide for acts committed during the period from 6 April to 17 July 1994.

The indictment against the former deputy prefect in Butare prefecture alleges that Mr. Ntawukuriryayo had de facto control over local and regional leaders, administrative personnel, communal police and Interahamwe and other militias in Butare during the genocide.

In addition, he allegedly incited the public to participate in genocide by promising money, land and houses to those who killed the most number of Tutsis.

Mr. Ntawukuriryayo was arrested in France in 2007 and transferred to the ICTR on 5 June of this year.