afrol News, 19 April - A former Rwandan military commander, Bernard Ntuyahaga, today appears before a Belgian court for his role in the 1994 murders of the former Rwanda Prime Minister, Mrs Agathe Uwilingivimana, and 10 Belgian United Nations soldiers protecting her. The trial is the third Rwandan trial in the Belgian capital Brussels.

The former military commander was accused of supervising the killings on 7 April 1994, barely few hours after the plane of the former Rwandan President - Juvenal Habyarimana – was shot down. Mr Habyarimana’s assassination reportedly fuelled the 100-day genocide in which about 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by Hutu extremists.

Mr Ntuyahaga’s forces were accused of brutally killing the UN troops who flew to Rwanda to protect Prime Minister Uwilingiyimanawere. This soured relations between Rwanda and Belgium. Her killing took place when she was getting prepared to deliver a speech calling for national unity on the radio.

The UN peacekeepers, who were accused of shooting down Mr Habyarimana’s plane, were said to be brutally massacred.

In June 2001, four Rwandans were sentenced by a Belgian court to between 12 and 20 years in prison for playing key roles in the killings. Also in June 2005, two Rwandan businessmen were found guilty of war crimes and mass murders during the genocide. They were sentenced to serve 10 and 12 years in jail.

But in today’s case, Belgian prosecutor pointed accusing fingers at Mr Ntuyahaga for playing a key role in the killing of Mrs Uwilingiyimana.

The former military commander is also accused committing killing people en masse, including his five neighbours.

But Mr Ntuyahaga maintained his innocence to the charges brought against him.

The trial is expected to last for eight weeks. In that, the court will hear the testimonies from at least 150 witnesses, including Romeo Dallaire, the Canadian commander of the UN mission at the time. Romeo Dallaire, who appears before the court on 10 May, had been blamed for his failure to prevent the Belgians from facing the brutal killing.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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