Rwandan Minister suggests dropping of plans to execute genocide perpetrators

A Rwandan government minister has suggested that the country should give up plans to execute some of those who carried out the genocide of 1994 in which more than a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.

More than one hundred thousand people are awaiting trial in Rwanda for their role in the mass killings.

The Deputy Justice Minister, Gerard Gahima, told a BBC correspondent that in his personal view, the death penalty should be abolished.

Our correspondent says there are important political considerations for the government -- executing large numbers of Hutus would impede the task of national reconciliation, especially when the real organisers of the genocide are either living abroad or preparing to stand trial before an international tribunal, which won't impose the death penalty.

Meanwhile, Rwandan Radio has reported that a military court in the central town of Gitarama has sentenced to death a number of soldiers found guilty of killing a former senior commander.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service