Audio By Carbonatix
Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga, arrested this month after more than two decades on the run, told a French court on Wednesday that the international charges against him were lies.
Kabuga has been indicted by U.N. prosecutors for genocide and incitement to commit genocide, among other charges. He is accused of bankrolling and arming the ethnic Hutu militias which killed 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus over 100 days in 1994.
Asked if he understood the charges, Kabuga told the court through an interpreter: “All of this is lies. I have not killed any Tutsis. I was working with them.”
Kabuga was arrested in a Paris suburb on May 16. His lawyers told the court he should be released under court supervision because of his age and ill-health, and that the results of a DNA test used to identify him should be annulled as he had not given consent.
The court’s three judges, who are due to decide whether to transfer Kabuga to the international tribunal based in The Hague and Arusha, Tanzania.
Kabuga was too elderly and sick to be transferred and should be tried in France, his lawyers said.
“This court is just saying ‘go and get judged elsewhere but not here’. It wants to hand him over him without consideration for his age and health, which could have irreversible consequences,” defence lawyer Laurent Bayon told the court.
Latest Stories
-
Bosome Freho MP reveals how Dr Bawumia “quietly” funded tiling of Pentecost Church
5 minutes -
34 injured as bus crashes at Asuboi on Accra–Kumasi Highway
40 minutes -
Galamsey: NAIMOS arrests foreign nationals, cleans up Birim River
1 hour -
Man captured in viral video assaulting lady remanded amid fresh sextortion allegations
2 hours -
Around 1,500 soldiers on standby for deployment to Minneapolis, officials say
4 hours -
Faisal Islam: Trump’s Greenland threats to allies are without parallel
4 hours -
Ex-GBA President accuses NDC of driving move to remove GBA from constitution
6 hours -
Trump’s double pardon underscores sweeping use of clemency
6 hours -
Morocco and Senegal set for defining AFCON final under Rabat lights today
8 hours -
Trump tariff threat over Greenland ‘unacceptable’, European leaders say
8 hours -
Evalue-Ajomoro-Gwira MP kicks against VALCO sale
9 hours -
Mercy Johnson withdraws alleged defamation case against TikToker
9 hours -
Ghana accepted Trump’s deported West Africans and forced them back to their native countries
10 hours -
No evidence of theft in Unibank Case – A‑G explains withdrawal of charges against Dr Duffour
10 hours -
Labourer remanded for threatening to kill mother
10 hours
