Human Rights Watch Identified Porvoo Genocide Suspect
Image: YLE
Human Rights Watch says the man was a Baptist preacher who organized fighting schools in Rwanda.
Porvoo's newspaper Borgåbladet reports that he is also accused of acquiring and distributing weapons. His arrest, however, centres on accusations that he led one of the first massacres of Tutsis in the spring of 1994.
The man has worked as a freelance minister in Porvoo and Vaasa, and lives in Porvoo with his family. Borgåbladet reports that the Finnish Baptist Church believes him to be innocent, and has arranged for his legal representation.
Man Sought Asylum in Finland Chief Inspector Thomas Elfgren of the National Bureau of Investigation said on Thursday the arrested man is a Hutu leader of the Rwandan Baptist Church, who, in the past, fled from Burundi to Rwanda. Prosecutors in Rwanda say it is claimed he led groups who killed many of the Tutsi population. He requested asylum upon arrival in Finland in 2003. Investigations are being carried out in co-operation with justice officials in Rwanda and the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda(ICTR). It has so far rendered over 30 judgements on the October 1994 genocide. However, the detained man is not on the ICTR list of suspects.