Rwanda nuns in genocide trial

The two nuns are accused with helping Hutu soldiers

Two Roman Catholic nuns from Rwanda have gone on trial in Belgium charged with aiding and abetting the murder of Tutsis as part of the genocide that swept the Central African nation in 1994.

The women, along with two men, are being tried under a law which empowers Belgian courts to try human rights violations wherever they may have been committed.

Vincent Ntezimana is accused of inciting and organising mass slaughter

The two nuns, Consolata Mukangango, or Sister Gertrude, and Julienne Mukabutera, known as Sister Julienne Kisito, are expected to plead not guilty to charges of helping Hutu soldiers to massacre 6,000 Tutsis.

The Tutsis had sought refuge at their convent near the southern town of Butare in late April 1994.

The two men on trial are accused of inciting and organising the killing of Tutsis.

They are Vincent Ntezimana, a university professor, and Alphonse Higaniro, a former government minister and member of the inner circle of the late Rwandan President, Juvenal Habyarimana.

Charges

Sister Maria provided gasoline to torch a building where Tutsis were hiding

Sister Gertrude forced hundreds of Tutsis hiding in the convent to leave knowing they would be massacred

Vincent Ntezimana was responsible for the deaths of at least seven Tutsis

Alphonse Higaniro incited Hutus to murder Tutsis

A BBC correspondent in Brussels says Belgium's eagerness to stage the trial comes in part from its concerns that it did not do enough to stop the genocide in Rwanda as the region's former colonial power.

All four defendants sat quietly in court on Tuesday at the start of proceedings which are expected to last six weeks.

During that time they will not be held in custody.

Relatives of victims of Rwanda's genocide - in which at least half a million people are estimated to have been killed - attended the opening day.

After 12 jurors had been selected, they heard the charges against the defendants read out.

It is the first time a civil court outside Rwanda has tried suspects of the genocide.

Apology

More than 170 witnesses are to be heard, including 50 from Rwanda, who will be flown to Belgium.

The jury will be given a short course in Rwanda's history in order to put the alleged crimes into context.

Last year Belgium's Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt visited Rwanda and formally apologised to its citizens.