Genocide case

German prosecutors in Karlsruhe on Wednesday opened a case against a Rwandan man who they say participated in genocide before moving to Germany as a refugee in 2002.

The man, named only as Onesphore R., is a member of the Hutu tribe in Rwanda and is said to be the former mayor of a community there. In April 1994, according to prosecutors, he ordered and coordinated three massacres against the rival Tutsi minority. At least 3,730 Tutsis are thought to have been killed in the attacks.

The official charges against Onesphore R. are for genocide and murder, and incitement to commit those crimes.

Onesphore R. had been previously held on similar charges in 2008, but the case against him was dropped as most of the evidence was based on hearsay. Further investigation by German prosecutors yielded a stronger case which led to his second arrest at the end of July.

During the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, an estimated 800,000 people were killed, most of them from the Tutsi minority.

Author: Matt Zuvela (AP/AFP/dpa)
Editor: Rob Turner