Rwanda : Mugesera gets 2 months, prior to trial
The trail of genocide suspect Leon Mugesera will now take another two months before the high court of Rwanda takes root into the core of the alleged genocide crimes he committed back in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
Mugesera, who looked to be in a good mood, said that some pages were missing in the Rwandan case file, and also asked the high court judge to give him more time to study and prepare for the 40,000 paged court case filled by Canada.
Apparently, Mugesera has been filling the same requests for the past three months and sometimes giving excuses of not having had time to comprehend the case.
Mugesera’s lawyer, Jean-Felix Rudakemwa, also told court that they would need the time to study the whole dossier from the prosecution since the one they received had some pages missing.
He also requested for the hard copy of the Canadian case file, and that 1,700-page made by Rwanda is translated dossier from Kinyarwanda to English and French, to enable Mugesera’s foreign lawyers to read and comprehend the case first.
Prosecution led by Jean Bosco Mutangana requested the judge not to consider the request, saying it was baseless, however the high court judge, Athanase Bakunduzanye granted him the request.
Mugesera is accused of having delivered an incendiary speech which is said to have been critical in inciting and fuelling the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
In the speech, he propagated a theory that the Tutsi were not Rwandans, but rather foreigners who invaded the country from Ethiopia, where they should be sent by shortcut, via the River Nile.
