Four men in London court over Rwandan genocide

LONDON, Dec 29 (Reuters) Four men will today appear in a central London court on extradition warrants from Rwanda where they are wanted on charges of taking part in the 1994 genocide in which more than 800,000 minority Tutsis were slaughtered.

Police said the men, all in their 40s and 50s, were arrested at their homes in coordinated raids in various parts of the country and were being held in a central London police station.

Vincent Bajinya, Charles Munyaneza, Celestin Ugirashebuja and Emmanuel Nteziryayo all face the same charges that between Jan 1, 1994 and Dec 12, 1994 they murdered, plotted to murder and aided the murder of Tutsis intending to eradicate them all.

They are to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court to confirm their names and hear the charges at the start of the extradition process.

The massacre took place in the Spring of 1994 as gangs of machete-wielding Hutus roamed the country slaughtering not only ethnic Tutsis but also moderate members of their own race while the outside world simply stood by.

Rwanda began holding trials 10 years ago in connection with the genocide.

Earlier this month a United Nations court trying leaders of the genocide sentenced a former Catholic priest to 15 years in jail for ordering bulldozers to flatten a church in which 2,000 Tutsis were taking refuge.

Father Athanese Seromba had denied the charges.

He was the 27th person to be convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

The process took on a new twist last month when a French anti-terrorism judge called for Rwandan President Paul Kagame to stand trial for the shooting down of a plane carrying then President Juvenal Habyarimana that triggered the genocide.

Kigali has ridiculed the accusations, cut diplomatic ties and accused France of trying to cover what it says is its own guilt over the massacre.

REUTERS SB PM1338