Rwanda : Norway sets first Rwanda genocide trial
The Norwegian courts have announced plans of trying a case of the first Rwandan Genocide suspect Sadi Bugingo, who was arrested in the Norwegian capital Oslo, in 2011.
The date has been set for September 25 and it is expected to last about three months and closed by December 21.
Bugingo allegedly killed people at the Economat Général of Kibungo Diocese and at Kibungo Baptist Church, and alleged to have supervised killings and coordinated attacks and distributed food rations to Interahamwe militia, during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
Apparently the Norwegian authorities have sent several delegations of investigators to Rwanda. He is accused of genocide, complicity in genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and crimes against humanity.
Bugingo is the second Genocide fugitive arrested in Norway, after Charles Bandora- who was also arrested last year as he tried to enter Oslo Airport on false papers, masquerading as one Frank Kamwana, a Malian national.
Norwegian courts and the European Court of Human and People’s Rights have all ruled in favour of sending Bandora to Rwanda- a decision that will have to be approved by Norway’s Ministry of Justice.
Other Rwandan genocide suspects have also been already tried and convicted in the Nordic counties. These include Francois Bazaramba, a former clergyman in the Southern Province, has since lost his appeal which he logged against a sentence of life imprisonment.
Another one is Sylveire Ahorugeze, who stands chances of being extradited to Rwanda though he has appealed the decision to the European Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights in Sweden.
