Genocide suspect pleads guilty to UN court

A Rwandan genocide suspect has pleaded guilty to the United Nations' International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), according to reports reaching here on Friday.

Joseph Serugendo, a Rwandan defendant charged with genocide by the ICTR and arrested in Gabon in September last year, pleaded guilty to charges and has therefore become the sixth defendant who has acknowledged responsibility for genocide before the UN court that is seated in Arusha of northern Tanzania.

Serugendo, however, pleaded not guilty during his first appearance before the UN court.

The defendant was a member of the national committee of the Interahamwe militia and the technical director of the Radio television des milles collines that became infamous for its broadcasts inciting racial hatred in Rwanda.

The UN court, set up in 1995 with a United Nations Security Council resolution, has so far arrested 72 genocide suspects, of whom 27 have been tried resulting in 24 convictions and three acquittals.

The court is given a United Nations Security Council deadline for terminating all trials in 2008.

Source: Xinhua