Rwanda genocide suspect’s lawyers: Prosecution case is weak

By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Defense lawyers for an elderly Rwandan businessman accused of inciting and financing murderous militias during the African nation’s 1994 genocide have told United Nations judges that prosecutors built an unsubstantiated case aimed at turning him into the “perfect culprit.” Lawyer Dov Jacobs told judges at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals on Friday that the case against Félicien Kabuga was built on “weak, unverified, unauthenticated, unsubstantiated evidence riddled with unverified hearsay.” The defense opening statement came a day after prosecutors opened Kabuga’s trial by saying he helped pave the way for the slaughter of Rwanda’s Tutsi minority. Kabuga has pleaded not guilty to charges including genocide, persecution, extermination and murder.