Fourth man remanded on Rwanda genocide charges

A fourth man accused of playing a leading role in the Rwandan genocide of 1994 appeared briefly before a court in Britian today, and was remanded in custody.

Forty-four-year-old Emmanuel Nteziryayo of Manchester sat in City of Westminster Magistrates Court in London listening silently today, wearing a grey sweater and spectacles, as details of a special agreement between Britain and Rwanda allowing him and three others to be extradited were given to the court.

He did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody, as were three others on similar charges earlier today.

A remand hearing for all four defendants is due to take place on January 5, although they are not expected to appear in person before the court again until January 26.

Vincent Bajinya – who changed his name to Vincent Brown when he became a British citizen, Charles Munyaneza and Celestin Ugirashebuja were arrested along with Emmanuel Nteziryayo last night in a series of co-ordinated swoops in London, Manchester, Essex and Bedfordshire.

Nteziryayo, in common with Munyaneza, was allegedly a bourgmestre (mayor) in the Gikongoro prefecture of Rwanda.

Because there was no application for bail, no details of the specific allegations against him were read to the court.

The Rwandan government’s lawyer Gemma Lindfield told the court that the four defendants had played key roles in the genocide.

She said: “They were not the militia men, they were the organisers and facilitators in the genocide in which hundreds of thousands of men, women and children died because of the fact they were Tutsis.”

She said that the Rwandan government believed that there was evidence to suggest that they retained the Hutu ideology and feared that were they to be given bail they could flee to another country.

Opposing bail application from two of the men, she told the district judge: “The Rwandan prosecutors have been told that they could make an application for bail and they expressed great concern.”

She told the court that Bajinya had taken on British nationality at which point he had changed his surname to Brown.

Ugirashebuja was refused asylum and excluded from refugee status last year, she told the court.

Earlier this year Ugirashebuja’s appeal against the decision at the High Court was unsuccessful.

She also told the court that Munyaneza had previously been granted refugee status but that this had recently been cancelled by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate .

The court was given no details of Nteziryayo’s immigration status.

The Sunday Times reported earlier this year that he arrived in Britain three years ago claiming to be from Burundi rather than Rwanda.

All four men deny the accusations and indicated that they would be opposing extradition to Rwanda.