Republished September 06, 2017 - 2:53 AM
Original Publication Date September 06, 2017 - 2:11 AM
STOCKHOLM - A 49-year-old Rwandan-born man was charged in Sweden Wednesday over the 1994 genocide in his African homeland.
Prosecutors say the man — now a Swedish citizen — is responsible for the assassination, attempted murder, rape and abduction of members of the Tutsi ethnic group "with the intention to destroy the whole or part of the group."
In a statement, prosecutors said the unnamed man committed the crimes, considered particularly serious because there were a large number of separate acts, in April and May 1994.
Many people were killed and crimes were carried out "under particularly degrading conditions," they said, adding the man had "a leading role." His trial starts Sept. 12 in Stockholm.
Swedish prosecutors said investigators had been to Rwanda several times and more than 100 people have been interviewed, in Rwanda, Europe and North America.
Some 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were killed by Hutu extremists during the Rwandan genocide, according to the U.N.
It is the third time Sweden has prosecuted someone over the Rwanda genocide.
In May 2016, Claver Berinkindi, a Swedish citizen originally from Rwanda, was given a lifetime prison sentence, and three years earlier, Stanislas Mbanenande also was sentenced to life.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017