'Genocide masterminds' boycott Rwanda war crimes trial

Four former senior Rwandan army officers accused of genocide in the 1994 war in Rwanda have gone on trial.

The men are accused of being "among the principle perpetrators of genocide" in planning the massacres of more than 500,000 people.

Colonel Theoneste Bagosora faces 12 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and rape for his role as the army chief of staff.

He and his co-defendants Lieutenant Colonel Anatole Nsengiyumva, Major Aloys Ntabakuze, Brigadier General Gratien Kabiligi have all pleaded not guilty.

All four men boycotted the opening day of the UN trial in Arusha, Tanzania, claiming their rights had been violated by prosecutors who have not supplied them with French translations of key prosecution documents.

Carla Del Ponte, the UN's top prosecutor, said that some of the charges against the four were "frightening on account of their violent nature and their cruelty".

She added: "These four men are among the principle perpetrators of the genocide."

Lead prosecutor Chile Eboe-Osuji said the accused "unleashed a legion of ferocious demons that rampaged" through Rwanda, "seeking out, killing, raping and maiming every victim they could find."

The defence claims the men were fighting Tutsi rebels at the time of the genocide and not involved in killing innocent civilians.

Rwandan and tribunal officials hope the trial will reveal the military's complicity in the genocide, as well as the planning behind the 100-day slaughter in which more than 500,000 Tutsi civilians and politically moderate Hutus were killed.