Rwanda's ex-president faces trial

Bizimungu has accused the government of harassment

Rwanda's police say former president Pasteur Bizimungu will face trial on charges of illegal political activity and threats to state security.

If found guilty, Mr Bizimungu, who was detained with former public works minister Charles Ntakirutinka, could face a jail term of up to 10 years.

Police found documents calling for civil disobedience, the division of the Rwandan people and threatening state security.

Tony Kuramba, police spokesman

They were handed over to the courts on Monday, police spokesman Tony Kuramba told the AFP news agency.

"The police have finished their inquiries and given the case over to the state prosecutor," he said.

Genocide

Police picked up both men at their homes on Friday and questioned them after receiving a tip-off that the pair were "still engaged in the activities of their party, which has been banned by the authorities", Mr Kuramba said.

"Police found documents calling for civil disobedience, the division of the Rwandan people and threatening state security," he said.

As Hutu head of state, Mr Bizimungu was seen as a symbol of reconciliation in Rwanda after the 1994 genocide in which Hutu militias and soldiers massacred up to a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus, according to official figures.

In 1990, he joined joined the mainly Tutsi rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) led by Paul Kagame, which seized Kigali in July 1994.

Ethnic hatred

But Mr Bizimungu resigned in March 2000, to be replaced as president by Mr Kagame, amid growing differences with the government over its policies and what he saw as an unwarranted crackdown on dissent.

President Kagame says he will act against opposition politicians preaching division

In June 2000, he set up his own Party for Democracy and Renewal (PDR), known as Ubuyanja in the Kinyarwanda language.

But the government immediately banned it, accusing Mr Bizimungu and his associates of preaching ethnic hatred.

The former president was briefly placed under house arrest last June and stripped of his privileges as former head of state.

Mr Ntakirutinka was a co-founder of the PDR.

Since the outlawing of Ubuyanja, the two men have regularly accused the Kagame government of "harassing" them and other members of their party.

In a speech marking the eighth anniversary of the start of the genocide on 8 April, Mr Kagame issued a stern warning to opposition politicians who "preach division among the Rwandan people".