Rwandan court sentences 10 to death for 1994 genocide

A Rwandan court has sentenced 10 people to death and another 23 to life imprisonment for leading the 1994 genocide.

More than 500,000 people were killed in the Government-orchestrated slaying of Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.

The convictions are the latest in a series of trials for 125,000 genocide suspects under way since 1996.

The court in Gisenyi found the suspects guilty of Class A crimes, Radio Rwanda reported.

Class A is reserved for those who organized the militias, led the killing or raped.

Wellars Banzi, a member of parliament under the former Hutu extremist government, was among those sentenced to death.

The court found that he incited the killing of minority Tutsi civilians in articles he wrote for the Kangura newspaper.

More than 500,000 people were killed in 100 days of killing organized by the former Hutu Government. Tutsi-led rebels stopped the genocide in July 1994 when they seized control of the country.

More than 2,000 genocide suspects have been tried so far, and more than 300 have been sentenced to death.

Rwandan courts have been holding mass trials to relieve overcrowded prisons, where many of the suspects have been held without charges.

Many were arrested in confusing circumstances and on shaky evidence in the early days following the end of the genocide.