A prosecution witness in the trial of four former Rwandan army officers in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has alleged that one of the officers had incited Hutus to kill Tutsis in the 1994 genocide.

The witness, codenamed GFD for personal safety reasons, told the Arusha-based United Nations court that Augustin Bizimungu, former chief of staff of the Rwandan army, had incited Hutus to kill Tutsis in a public meeting in 1994.

He said that the meeting was held at the Karago commune in the Gisenyi prefecture on April 8 of 1994 when Bizimungu allegedly incited some 700 Hutus who were attending the meeting to kill Tutsis, according to the Hirondelle News Agency on Thursday.

The witness said that the general described the Tutsis as "bad people" who kill Hutus and would exterminate the Hutus and that the general then watched in a nearby bar as the incited meeting participants stopped four Tutsis traveling in a motor vehicle to kill them.

The witness, already convicted for murder and sentenced to 18 years in prison by a Rwandan court, was called upon as the 20th prosecution witness to testify in the UN court.

In an earlier session of the trial, another prosecution witness had testified that Bizimungu was responsible for the killing of the then Rwandan prime minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana, on the veranda of her residence on the morning of April 7, 1994.

The witness claimed to have overheard Bizimungu talking via radio with Innocent Sagahutu on how to treat the captured prime minister.

"They had shot her (the prime minister) many times in the mouth and she also had a bullet wound on her abdomen and on her leg," said the witness who was a member of the elite reconnaissance battalion of the Rwandan army.

Four former Rwandan army officers, Francois-Xavier Nzuwonemeye, Innocent Sagahutu, Augustin Bizimungu and Augustin Ndindiliyimana, have been accused of genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1994 massacre in Rwanda.

Their case is being heard and tried in the ICTR, which was established in 1995 to deal with genocide suspects and accused.

Source: Xinhua