The court yesterday ordered the start of the case against Genocide suspect Léon Mugesera ending his bid to stall the trial.Turning down an application by the suspect’s lawyer to delay the case for a further two months to allow him “thoroughly analyse the 240 page file”, Judge Saudah Murererehe of the Nyarugenge Intermediate Court, ordered that the pre-trial commences.“Considering that Mugesera has, in the past been given all the time he requested to prepare for his pre-detention trial, the court has rejected his request and orders that the pre-trial commences immediately,” she pronounced.However, the case will be on hold until the suspect’s lawyer files an appeal application with the High Court.This is the first case against an extradited Genocide suspect to go on trial. The cases against Marie-Claire Mukeshimana, who was deported from the US on December 22, 2011 and Jean Marie Vianney Mudahinyuka, alias Zuzu, who was returned to Rwanda early January of the same year are yet to commence.It will also serve as a litmus test for countries that are holding Genocide suspects but have expressed reluctance to return them to Rwanda because of fears that they might not receive a fair hearing.But lawyer Donat Mutunzi for the accused immediately informed the court that he would appeal against the decision in the High Court. If the appeal is allowed, it will further paralyse the case, which has dragged on since Mugesera was extradited from Canada to Rwanda in February this year.The case against Mugesera cannot proceed until the process is completed.The court had given the Genocide suspect a two-week break so that his lawyers could review his case file and prepare for the trial, after he successfully petitioned the Nyarugenge Intermediate Court to order the prosecution to give him a detailed copy of his case file.“I received a copy of my dossier six days ago, there is no way I could have analysed 240 pages in such a short period. The prosecution has had this dossier for three months and 24 days, and if we are to consider the principle of equality before the law, then we should be given more time,” Mutunzi told the Court.But the prosecutor Ndibwami Rugambwa opposed the application, telling the court that Mugesera was using diversionary tactics to delay his trial.“We are ready to proceed with the trial anytime Mugesera thinks he is ready since he is the one who has always asked for extensions,” Ndibwami said.This is the second time Mugesera is appealing against a decision by the same court. The first time, he appealed against decision ordering him to stand trial in Kinyarwanda.He had preferred to use French throughout the trial. He lost the High Court appeal.Mugesera was extradited from Canada in January this year to answer Genocide-related charges.Despite not being in the country at the height of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, in which an estimated one million people were killed, Mugesera’s case hinges on a speech he delivered in 1992, in which he explicitly called upon the Hutu to take up arms and kill the Tutsi, whom he called derogatory names.The other case involving a Genocide suspect is the one against Jean Bosco Uwinkindi, who was transferred from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) this year. Four file cases concerning fugitives still on the run have also been handed over to Kigali.
