A Finnish court held a preliminary hearing, Tuesday, in the case against Francois Bazaramba, a genocide suspect who was arrested early 2007. Bazaramba’s lawyer, Ville Hoikkala, called for a postponement of the main trial, because police have not been able to interview three African witnesses named by the defence. State Prosecutor Raija Toiviainen called for a life sentence for either genocide, or 15 counts of murder. The defendant has denied involvement in the bloodshed ever since the first police interrogations in 2007. The man said that during the violence, he mainly stayed inside his house, and with friends. He fled Rwanda with his family soon after the genocide started in 1994. According to the defence, the man hid at least two people in his house and other buildings. “He put himself in danger because of it”, said the defendant’s lawyer Ville Hoikkala. The prosecution did not dispute this, but insisted that the man nevertheless took part in the genocide through other actions. Hoikkala also denounces as unreliable the statements of a number of prosecution witnesses, who claim that local officials have tortured or threatened to torture them, and have also offered inducements to testify against the defendant. The Prosecution’s spokesperson, Augustin Nkusi, yesterday acknowledged to have read similar reports , but declined further comment, saying he didn’t know much about the development. “I have also read some reports, somewhere, but I don’t know anything more about it. We don’t have anything much on that case as yet,” Nkusi said. Bazaramba, 58, believed to have been a pastor of the Baptist mission in Nyantanga village in former Nyakizu commune, presently Nyaruguru district, Southern Province is accused of – genocide and murder – during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Participating in the killing of more than 5,000 people in his church as well as in the killing of more than 20,000 people at Kyahinda catholic parish in Nyantanga are some of the counts. It is noted that Bazaramba appeared in court and denied all the charges on Tuesday. Ends
