Finnish judges to interview witnesses

KIGALI - A team of Finnish judges is this weekend expected in the country to continue the hearing into the case of Genocide suspect François Bazaramba, who is currently detained in the Nordic country. According to officials in the judiciary, the judges are here to interview witnesses who could not travel to Finland where the trial started early this month. The judges are expected to spend the whole of next week interviewing witnesses and gathering more evidence. Their itinerary will include Nyakizu in the Southern Province where the accused is alleged to have committed the Genocide crimes. “I am aware about the visit. I know they will be here to interview some of the witnesses who could not make it to Finland,” Martin Ngoga, the Prosecutor General told The New Times. The visit follows the defence team’s efforts to discredit the charges against their client, claiming that the evidence collected against him was extracted through torture. At the time of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Bazaramba was a Baptist Church pastor in Nyakizu. He is accused of having planned and carried out the massacre of more than 5,000 Tutsi who had sought refuge at a nearby hill. Finland’s detention of Bazaramba is based on a legal doctrine known as the “universality principle.” Proponents of the universality principle claim some criminal acts, such as Genocide, are so heinous - they are crimes committed against all of humanity. Bazaramba arrived in Finland in 2003, where he sought asylum. In April 2007, he was put in detention by order of the District Court of Porvoo, while the National Bureau of Investigations carried out investigations on the allegations of war crimes. His arrest was based on an earlier indictment that had been issued by the Rwandan judiciary. Finnish judicial authorities decided to try him in their own courts going against Rwanda’s wish that the suspect be extradited to Rwanda.If convicted, Bazaramba faces life imprisonment according to Finnish law. Ends