The Appeal Court in Kigali on Wednesday postponed to 17 November, the hearing of the former militia leader Bernard Munyagishari over his alleged participation in the genocide against the Tutsis in 1994.
The court said it was retiring to solve the task on filing more evidence, including some additional facts presented by the Prosecution and the convict’s defense.
The defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment in April 2017 by the High Court in Kigali after finding him guilty on two counts.
As former Secretary General of the then ruling National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRND) in Gisenyi and President of militia for the Gisenyi Prefecture (North West), Munyagishari has been facing charges on different counts especially for attending several meetings in which the genocide was prepared.
He was cleared of rape as the Prosecution failed to present convincing evidence, but was convicted of participation in the genocide against the Tutsis, and killing as a crime against humanity.
Arguments by the prosecutions indicate that the 59-year-old also played a major role in drawing up lists of Tutsis to be killed and contributed to setting up roadblocks where the victims were slaughtered.
The suspect was arrested in 2011 in an operation mounted by the Congolese armed forces, in collaboration with the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) Tracking Unit of the former International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (ICTR), in Kichanga, North Kivu.
In July 2013, the UN tribunal resolved to transfer the case to Rwanda from its former custody in Arusha, Tanzania.
CU/as/APA