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 ARUSHA, Tanzania (AP) - A man who served as Rwanda's interior minister during the slaughter of more than half a million people in 1994 pleaded not guilty Monday to three counts of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Calixte Kalimanzira — who surrendered Tuesday to the U.N. tribunal for the alleged masterminds of the 100-day genocide — denied charges that he directly participated in the slaughter that was orchestrated by the then-extremist government from the Hutu ethnic majority.
The massacre was led by members of Rwanda's former army and extremist Hutu militias, known as the Interahamwe. The victims were members of the Tutsi minority and politically moderate Hutus. The killings ended when Tutsi-led rebels, under President Paul Kagame, ousted the extremist government in July 1994.
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