An 87-year-old accused of helping fund and promote the 1994 genocide in Rwanda has been put on trial in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
Judges ruled the case would go forward at two hours a day, despite Félicien Kabuga – who is confined to a wheelchair – refusing to appear in person or via video link at the start of the trial on 29 September, citing a dispute regarding his lawyer.
Kabuga, who was arrested near Paris in 2020 after being at large for years, has been charged with three counts of genocide and two counts of crimes against humanity, primarily for promoting hate speech through his broadcasting business, Radio Télévision Libre des Milles Collines.
Kabuga is also accused of funding weapons for militias in Rwanda's Hutu majority who killed more than 800,000 minority Tutsis and Hutu moderates during a 100-day period in 1994. Kabuga has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
