Prosecution yesterday asked the specialised chamber for international crimes at the High Court to hand Genocide suspect Charles Bandora a life sentence for his role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Bandora, who was extradited from Norway in March 2013, is charged with genocide, conspiracy to genocide, complicity to committing genocide, extermination, murder as a crime against humanity, and formation of an armed gang.

"Of the six crimes we accuse him of five of them carry life sentence upon conviction, which is why we are requesting for a single sentence of life in jail,” said Faustin Nkusi, the lead prosecutor in the trial.

"The crimes Bandora committed had a grave impact on many Tutsi, especially those in the former Ngenda Commune (present day Bugesera District), where he was the president of the genocidal MRND party.

"He was a famous businessman in the area and the masses believed in him. He used his influence to lure people into killing the Tutsi on a large scale.”

The prosecutor told the court that Bandora had a choice of not participating in the Genocide and save people but he chose not and instead took a lead role in the mass massacre.

"If people like Bandora had not committed to realising the Genocide, people would not have died to such an extent but the influential ones like him took the lead role in the killings and encouraged others to do so,” added the prosecutor.

However, Bandora reacted by maintaining his innocence.

He said: "The court should completely nullify prosecution witnesses since they exhibited much contradiction in their testimonies.”

The court set May 15 for the ruling.

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