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Ex-army colonel pleads not guilty to genocide charges

[Tanzania] Arusha: ICTR Building Northern Tanzania IRIN
The tribunal's building in Arusha, northern Tanzania.
    NAIROBI

    A former colonel in the Rwandan army, Ephrem Setako, appeared before the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Monday, and denied charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, the tribunal reported.

    In a statement, the tribunal said Setako, 55, pleaded not guilty to six counts of genocide, complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity (murder and extermination) and violations of the Geneva Conventions.

    He made his plea before Judge Dennis Byron of St Kitts and Nevis.

    According to the prosecution, Setako planned, instigated, ordered and participated in the killing of Tutsi civilians in Rwanda's northern province of Ruhengeri and in Kigali-ville Province.

    He also allegedly distributed arms to members of the Rwandan Armed Forces, the presidential guard, the Interahamwe militia, the civil defence forces known as Amahindure and other soldiers engaged in the killings.

    Setako was arrested on 25 February in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He was transferred on Wednesday to the UN tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania.

    The UN Security Council set up the tribunal in 1994 to bring to trial the perpetrators of the genocide in Rwanda, which, between April and July 1994, claimed the lives of 937,000 people, according to Rwandan government figures.

    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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