Porvoo District Court Sets up in Kigali
Members of the Porvoo District Court arrive in Kigali, Rwanda on Saturday night.
Image: YLE
Members of the Porvoo District Court arrived in Kigali, Rwanda on Saturday night, as the case against a Rwanda-born Porvoo resident continued on location. The trial of the Rwadan man began in September in Porvoo, a small town about 50 km east of Helsinki.
The Kigali leg of the hearings is expected to continue through the end of October, during which time the court will hear evidence from 37 prosecution witnesses.
The Rwandan man stands accused of leading a campaign of mass slaughter in the village of Nyakizu, near the Burundi border.
The case for the defense will call no witnesses in Rwanda, since most of those who may have testified on behalf of the accused have either moved away or fled from Rwanda – some of them are also under suspicion of complicity in the mass murders.
“They are currently in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Kenya and Malawi. I intend to meet them before I return to Finland,” said lead investigator Thomas Elfgren.
“But this also implies that they have either left the country voluntarily or that they have been forced to leave,” Elfgren observed.
Accused to View Testimonies via Video Link
The Court’s first session in Rwanda will take place on Tuesday September 15, when two witnesses will give evidence. The following day the Court will travel to the location where the murders were said to have taken place, the village of Nyakizu.
The accused, who is still in detention in Finland, will see the court sessions via direct video link from his prison cell in Vantaa.
The man was said to have worked in the local Pentecostal school as a teacher and lay priest. In June two witnesses called by the Court told YLE that the accused and his brother-in-law began the slaughter of Tutsis at a nearby hill, where scores of Tutsi refugees gathered daily.
Costly Justice
The trial is expected to cost taxpayers in Finland somewhere in the region of one million euros, causing many to wonder why the accused had not been handed over to the Rwandan authorities, particularly since the alleged crimes occurred there.
“We can’t apply that principle if there is any doubt that the accused will have a fair and impartial trial,” said Elfgren.
“First of all, this isn’t by any stretch the most costly investigation and trial to occur in Finland. Secondly, this case is about alleged genocide, one of the worst crimes possible against mankind. One can’t measure such cases in money,” Elfgren added.
YLE