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Swedish court charges man with genocide

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Swedish court charges man with genocide

A Swedish court on Monday charged a 53-year-old Rwandan-Swede with genocide, accusing him of having taken part in the massacres in Rwanda in 1994.

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The man, who resides in Gävle in eastern Sweden, was not identified, but officials said he had been the subject of a Swedish investigation since April and had been arrested Thursday at Stockholm's Bromma airport.

The prosecutor Evamaria Haggqvist suspects he participated in the Rwandan genocide between April 7 and mid-July 1994.

"We're happy to be able to give a clear signal that Sweden is no safe haven for war criminals," said Wretling to the TT news agency following the man's arrest.

The accused, who holds both Swedish and Rwandan citizenship, denied the allegations during Monday's hearing, held largely behind closed doors, the TT news agency reported, citing his defence lawyer.

Some 800,000 people, mainly minority Tutsis, were massacred by Hutu soldiers and extremist militias during the bloodbath, according to UN figures.

The case is the third major case Swedish police formed a special war crimes task forde.

Earlier this year, a Bosnian was sentenced to five years in prison for war crimes, the second person to have been convicted of that particular crime in Sweden after Jackie Arklöv.

A Kosovo Serb is also suspected of participating in a 1999 massacre during the Kosovo War, and will receive the court's ruling on January 20th.

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