Trial of first ‘high profile’ female suspect in Rwanda genocide case adjourned

The first “high profile” female genocide suspect deported to Rwanda from the United States appears in court. Beatrice Munyenyezi is charged with seven counts related to Rwanda’s genocide in 1994. 

Gatera Gashabana, her defense counsel, demanded that the trial be postponed so that his client could ‘’know the content of the file’’.

“I didn’t have enough time to prepare the case because it was not possible to see the client. It was only yesterday in the evening, they gave us only 20 minutes and we didn’t have the file. The client has the right to know the content of the file, that is why I requested for an adjournment in order to let her have the facility to prepare her defense”, Lawyer Gashabana said.

Munyenyezi is accused of murder as a genocide crime, as well as conspiracy to commit genocide, according to Rwanda’s Investigation Bureau. 

According to news agencies, other charges are planning of the genocide, complicity in genocide, incitement to commit genocide, extermination, and complicity in rape.

At her trial in the United States, the suspect denied any role in the genocide. 

Munyenezi was recalled from the United States in the middle of April. According to the New Times, the defendant was previously sentenced to ten years in prison for fraudulently gaining US citizenship, entering the United States, and securing citizenship by lying about her part in the Tutsi genocide. 

She was recently released from jail and deported after serving her term. 

Munyenyezi would stand on roadblocks in what is now Huye District during the genocide, checking identifications to identify Tutsi. 

The perpetrator is the wife of Arsene Ntahobali, who was sentenced to life in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for his part in the Tutsi Genocide, along with his mother Pauline Nyiramasuhuko. 

During her trial in the United States, Munyenyezi denied any role in the genocide. 

The suspect will be held while the investigation is ongoing, according to the Rwandan Investigations Bureau, until her case is sent to prosecution.

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