A Norwegian court is today expected to start hearing testimonies of over 50 witnesses, through a video-link facility in Kigali, in a case involving Genocide suspect Sadi Bugingo.Bugingo’s trial started last month in Oslo, Norway, and more than 20 witnesses were flown from Rwanda to testify against him.“We have set up the infrastructure at the National Pubic Prosecution Authority that would facilitate the Norwegian courts to hear witness accounts,” said John Bosco Siboyintore, the head of Genocide Fugitive Tracking Unit.Bugingo, whose trial is taking place in the same courtroom where the notorious Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik was tried last year, is alleged to have led, supervised and participated in the massacre of over 200 people in the former Kibungo prefecture in eastern Rwanda.According to Siboyintore, the public is free to follow the video-link testimonies as they are being broadcasted live.This is not the first case where the video-link facility, which is installed at the Supreme Court chambers, is used to help witnesses testify in a case taking place far from Rwanda.In 2010, the facility was used in the trial of Francois Bazaramba, a Rwandan cleric who stood trial from the Finnish capital Helsinki, and was later convicted and sentenced to life.Bugingo is accused of coordinating attacks and distributing food rations to the Interahamwe militia in Kibungo during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Some prosecution witnesses who will be testifying in the case allege that Bugingo is responsible for the killings at the Economat Général of Kibungo Catholic Diocese, at Kibungo Baptist Church, and at Kibungo Hospital.He is also accused of participating in the murders of Tutsi in various areas, including Birenga, Zaza, and Nyakarambi.The 47-year-old is also charged with transporting armed killers to several locations in Kibungo, where massacres took place, including at a local government building in the community of the town of Kibungo.The region is among those that witnessed worst killings during the Genocide, which claimed more than a million lives.Bugingo has pleaded innocence but Prosecutor Peter Mandt said the prosecution “would not try to prove that the defendant had personally killed anyone, but evidence would be presented stating that he took part in meetings, and had ordered others to commit the killings and supervised killings,” Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported.Bugingo has lived in Bergen, western Norway, since 2001. He was arrested last year and, if convicted, he could be sentenced to a maximum 21-year prison term.Norwegian authorities have investigated Bugingo since 2008 on Rwanda’s request.The trial is expected to run for three months.
