A Rwandan war crimes suspect charged with helping to orchestrate the country’s 1994 genocide and arming militias, was granted not guilty pleas during his first court appearance at the Hague Wednesday.
84-year old Félicien Kabuga, who arrived at court in a wheelchair, did not respond to the charges before the U.N.’s International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, but the presiding judge deemed his silence as not guilty pleas.
Kabuga faces multiple charges, including complicity in genocide and persecution. He is alleged to have backed and armed ethnic Hutu militias who slaughtered about 800,000 people in 1994.
Over 100 days, the Hutu targeted members of the minority Tutsi community and their political opponents, irrespective of their ethnic origin.
Kabuga is accused of founding and funding the notorious Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM), a Rwandan broadcaster that actively encouraged people to search out and kill anyone who was from the Tutsi ethnic group.
In 1997, he was indicted by The International Criminal Tribunal (ICTR) for Rwanda on seven counts including with genocide and crimes against humanity.
The UN tribunal wound up its operations in 2015 and its duties were transferred to a body at The Hague that handles outstanding war crimes cases and is pressing for Mr. Kabuga’s extradition.
Kabuga was transferred to the Netherlands in May following his arrest near Paris after more than two decades on the run.
He faces a possible sentence of life in prison if convicted.
