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Former ministers plead not guilty to genocide charges

    NAIROBI

    Two former cabinet ministers on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, and one had a not guilty plea entered on his behalf by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha after he failed to plead. Former Minister of Trade and Industry Justin Mugenzi and former Minister of the Civil Service Prosper Mugiraneza pleaded not guilty and the trial chamber entered the same plea for former Foreign Affairs Minister Jerome Bicamumpaka, a tribunal press release received by IRIN on Wednesday stated. The charges included eight counts of conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity, and a ninth of direct and public incitement to commit genocide.

    A fourth co-accused on the first eight, former Health Minister Casimir Bizimungu, could not plead because his American lawyer had not yet arrived in Arusha.

    The prosecution alleged that the accused jointly participated in the planning, preparation or execution of a common plan to commit atrocities against ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus during the 1994 genocide, the ICTR press release stated. "The crimes were committed by them personally, by persons they assisted or by their subordinates, and with their knowledge and consent" the trial chamber was told. Mugenzi, Bicamumpaka and Mugiraneza were arrested in Cameroon on 6 April and transferred for trial to Arusha on 31 July.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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