The High Court Chamber for International Crimes in Nyanza district, on Tuesday postponed the substantive hearing of Callixte Nsabimana’s case to January 17, 2020.

The postponement was as at the request of prosecution which wanted to be given time to compare the suspect’s file with those of a group of dissidents who deserted the army and joined Nsabimana’s terror group.

The outfit that calls itself FLN are accused of taking part in the different terror attacks on Rwandan territory and Nsabimana is said to have taken part in them.

Nsabimana is a former spokesperson of FLN, an anti-Rwanda terror group operating in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is blamed for terror attacks on Rwandan territory in which people lost lives, especially in areas around Nyungwe National Park.

Appearing in court Tuesday morning, clean-shaven and dressed in the pink prison uniform, Nsabimana took advantage of the delayed arrival of the presiding judge to take more time consulting with his lawyer Moise Nkundabarashi.

They were seen extensively looking at his file as they talked in hushed voices.

About 40 minutes later, the judges arrived in the court session that had attracted scores of journalists along with other people interested in the case.

The registrar read the biodata of Nsabimana and proceeded to read all the 17 counts he stands accused.

The charges include; formation of an illegal militia group; taking part in terrorist activities; conspiring and sensitizing people towards joining terrorism; killing; kidnapping; denying and undermining the genocide against the Tutsi, among others.

Nsabimana had during the pre-trial hearing pleaded guilty to all the charges.

Court then gave prosecution time to proceed with the merits of their charges, by senior prosecutor Bonaventure Ruberwa.

However, he instead called the bench to attention of the fact that he had received a letter from military prosecution showing that there might be a relationship between Nsabimana’s case and the case a one Private Dieudonne Muhire and a group of FLN militants who are being tried in the military court.

According to Ruberwa, Muhire and his co-accused deserted Rwanda Defence Force and went to join the FLN, and basing on investigations, these also played part in 2018 attacks that FLN carried out on Rwandan soil.

"The military prosecution wrote to us and we therefore request for an adjournment of at least two weeks so that we can sit down with them (military prosecution) and compare the two cases,” he that, , and then see,” he said.

"After looking at the files, we shall determine the competence of the court that is handling the case, because, if Muhire’s case and that of Nsabimana are related, it would not be good to prosecute them from courts of different nature,” he said.

The judge then asked to hear from Nsabimana’s side, and lawyer Nkundabarashi requested that the case should just proceed in substance since Muhire is nowhere mentioned in his client’s file, meaning there is no relationship between the two.

Addressing the three-person bench, Nsabimana himself also denied knowledge of Muhire.

"I don’t know this name (Muhire) among the group of soldiers I was working with. Except if I know him by another name,” he said.

However, Ruberwa said that that Nsabimana could not possibly know the names of all the militiamen he worked with, and insisted there should be some time given to him to sit down with military prosecutors to chart a way forward.

The bench then took a brief retreat, and deliberated on the request by prosecution before the presiding judge declared that they had decided to give prosecution time to look and compare the two cases and ruled that the case will resume on January 17.

According to the judge, the findings from consultations between the two prosecuting bodies will inform the competent court in which Nsabimana is to be tried.

There is a possibility that should the two parties conclude that there is a relationship between the two cases, Nsabimana’s case is likely to be transferred to a military could.

Nkundabarashi took time to ask the court to allow him and his client to have a look at the findings of the investigations of the two cases, so that they can be able to also have a say on it, especially in case the findings call for the change of court.

The judge promised that Nkundabarashi and his client would have a say on it before any decision is taken.