Genocide trial ends

Genocide suspect Alfred Musema should be found not guilty because he was not at the scene of the crimes, defence lawyers told the Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Monday. “The defence is one of alibi,” the independent Hirondelle news agency quoted defence counsel Steven Kay as saying during the trial’s closing arguments. Musema, a former tea factory director, is accused of ordering and participating in massacres in the Bisesero region of Kibuye during the 1994 genocide. He is also accused of rape.

Over the course of the five-month trial, Musema’s defence team showed the court various documents, including letters and bills, as proof that Musema was not in Kibuye prefecture at the time he is accused of committing the crimes, Hirondelle said. Prosecutors contested the alibi defence, saying the accused had “covered his tracks.” ICTR presiding judge Lennart Aspegren was quoted as saying as the trial ended on Monday: “I can tell you we will need a few months” for a judgement to be delivered.