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Ex-government officials plead not guilty at ICTR

    NAIROBI

    Five former Rwandan government officials pleaded not guilty to charges of genocide and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha on Thursday. According to the independent Hirondelle news agency, one of them - former education minister Andre Rwamakuba - burst into tears as he entered his plea.

    Co-charged with him are former interior minister Edouard Karemera, the former mayor of Mukingo commune Juvenal Kajelijeli, former director-general for foreign affairs Mathieu Ngirumpatse and former parliament speaker Joseph Nzirorera.

    In a related development, Karemera's Belgian lawyer Emmanuel Leclerc, withdrew from the case over a difference of opinion with his client. In a letter to the ICTR on Wednesday, Leclerc said that as far as he was concerned the only correct definition of the 1994 events was genocide. "Mr Karemera holds a different opinion," he said. "As we do not define the 1994 events in the same terms, it would seem to me very difficult to continue defending my client without doing him a disservice."

    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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