Rwanda:
Haunted Nation
 |
| Jean-Bosco Uwinkindi is accused of being one of the main perpetrators of Rwanda's 1994 genocide |
The
Tanzanian-based UN tribunal trying Rwandan genocide suspects has for the first
time sent a suspect back to Rwanda for trial.
His legal
team had said Jean-Bosco Uwinkindi would not get a fair trial in Rwanda, where
he was once a pastor.
He is
accused of ordering the killing of ethnic Tutsis after they sought refuge in
his church.
About
800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu militias in 100 days in
the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
'Corpses
near church'
The BBC's
Prudent Nsenga in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, says Mr Uwinkindi was met at the
airport by a delegation of Rwandan officials - including the country's
prosecutor, who called his arrival a "landmark day for Rwandan
justice".
On Tuesday,
the former pastor lost his appeal against a transfer ruling by the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
The ICTR -
set up in Arusha shortly after the 1994 genocide - is due to wind up its work
by the end of 2014, by which time all cases should have been transferred to
national jurisdictions.
Mr
Uwinkindi is accused of being one of the main perpetrators of the genocide.
The
prosecution alleges that in investigations after the genocide, some 2,000
corpses were found near the church in Kanzenze, just outside Kigali, where he
was pastor.
Mr
Uwinkindi was indicted in 2001 and arrested last year when he entered Uganda
from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Until his
arrest by Ugandan police, Mr Uwinkindi was one of the ICTR's 11 most-wanted
suspects.
He has
denied the genocide charges.
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