A Swedish citizen of Rwandan origin has started his trial in Sweden, marking the country’s first trial for the crime of genocide.
54-year-old Stanislas Mbanenande trial for charges of genocide and violations of international law opened on Friday with the indictment alleging that he had an
"informal role as a lower-level leader among young Hutus who sympathised with, or came to sympathise with, Hutu extremism".
He is also alleged to have taken part in massacres, leading a Hutu militia in Kibuye, western Rwanda, in April 1994. Prosecutors described how civilians in a church and hotel were surrounded and set upon by police and militia forces, as well as armed Hutu civilians, who used guns, grenades and machetes to slaughter the Tutsi.
Special prosecutor Magnus Elvin told Reuters earlier this month,
"Genocide is the most serious crime that there is and it can bring a sentence of up to life in prison."
See our previous post:
Rwandan faces genocide trial in Sweden (05 November 2012)
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