Trial of genocide suspect resumes

Defence lawyers for genocide suspect Ignace Bagilishema, a former mayor of Mabanza commune in western Rwanda, on Tuesday criticised what they called the prosecution's strategy of making all members of the 1994 government responsible for the genocide, news agencies reported. "Given all the resources they could marshal, the UN was unable to prevent or put an end to the genocide in Rwanda or even stop the killings when they were known. What were the superhuman efforts of a petty bourgmestre [mayor]...with only six to eight police in his commune?," the Arusha-based Internews agency quoted defence lawyer Maroufa Diabira as saying in an opening statement at Bagilishema's resumed trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Diabira told the court that Bagilishema had
done what he could to save Tutsis, including issuing false documents "so as to turn Tutsi into Hutu", Internews reported.

Meanwhile, Bagilishema's lead defence lawyer, Francois Roux, said he intended to request the publication of a confidential 1997 UN memorandum on the 1994 downing of the aircraft carrying the-then Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana and his Burundian counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira, the independent Hirondelle agency reported on Tuesday. The memo, which reportedly alleges Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) involvement in the incident, was placed "under seal" by Tribunal President Navenethem Pillay
earlier this month. The Rwandan government, of which the RPF is a key element, has rejected the allegations.