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Danish man in pink prison suit is currently on trial - accused of genocide in Rwanda | Abroad | DR Today begins a sensational case in Rwanda against a Danish citizen who is accused of having participated in one of the most brutal genocides in history 28 years ago. By DR News' correspondent in Africa by Gesenyi. A handful of guards follow closely, while the 53-year-old Danish citizen Wenceslas Twagirayezu in a pink prison suit is followed into the courthouse. On the way, he manages to give his son a little hug. The son has traveled all the way from Denmark to witness the case. Wenceslas Twagirayezu is charged with and crimes against humanity, at today's court hearing he pleads not guilty to all charges. The prosecutor has called nine witnesses to describe the actions of the accused in April 1994, en Rwanda stood in the midst of one of the most brutal in world history. In 100 days, up to 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were brutally murdered. The prosecutor believes that Wenceslas Twagirayezu played a significant role; The accused was arrested in Denmark back in 2017. For a long time he had been secretly investigated by Danish police, who had been to Rwanda on several occasions to investigate allegations of his involvement. About 30 witnesses were questioned, but an international arrest warrant was needed before the Danish police proceeded with the case. The Rwandan authorities wanted Wenceslas Twagirayezu extradited and presented the Danish authorities with a violent indictment. He is thought to have been involved in the killing of thousands of Tutsis in Rwanda in April 1994. Wenceslas Twagirayezu pleaded not guilty and continues to do so to this day. a Danish court. On the other hand, first the city court and then the high court judged that there was a strong enough basis to extradite him to prosecution in Rwanda, and since he was extradited in 2018, he has been sitting in Rwanda. One of Wenceslas Twagirayezu's good friends is present at the trial Rwanda. In addition to being a friend, Rasmus Hylleberg is also a great connoisseur of Rwanda, where he has lived on several occasions, and at the same time he is a parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Party. In his view, Denmark should never have handed over Wenceslas Twagirayezu: that Denmark supports the international legal community, and this also applies to Rwanda, where it is important to find the genocides who have still not been found guilty, says Rasmus Hylleberg and continues: - In this case, the evidence is so incredibly bad , and one sees many cases with such accusations in Rwanda, and therefore I think it is completely incomprehensible that one has taken the step of extraditing him - with the one lying in the trial, then I simply can not see how he should Wenceslas Twagirayezu came to Denmark as a refugee in 2001. The years before, according to the information he gave to the Danish authorities, he spent in a refugee camp in Rwandas, Congo, the former Zaire. Together with his d once a two-year-old son he was looking for in Denmark. He received a residence permit, family reunification and later Danish. The family became Danish, studied, worked and lived a fairly ordinary life on Zealand. That life came to an abrupt end when he was arrested, and today he sits on the dock for crimes that are almost impossible to comprehend: in Rwanda, there was a massacre in which up to 800,000 Tutuians were killed in just 100 days. It accused him of not being in Rwanda at all in the days when he was alleged to have committed the alleged crimes, and in connection with the trial a number of witnesses have been called who will explain that he was in when the killings took place. On the other hand, there will be witnesses who tell a very different story about the events of 28 years ago. are witnesses.The trial after has had an enormous scope. The International Criminal Court has tried to convict the worst criminals, while special local courts have tried to deal with the smaller cases. a special investigative unit in Rwanda to track down wanted war criminals abroad. They have about 1,000 suspects in the binoculars and have on several occasions also pointed the arrow at Denmark. Denmark is one of relatively few countries that has chosen to extradite for prosecution in Rwanda, and the case, which starts today, is the first where it the accused is a Danish citizen. The genocide in Rwanda started on April 6, 1994, when unknown perpetrators shot down Rwanda's president Juvénal Habyarimana's plane. The Hutu president was on his way home after a peace meeting with Tutsis in exile. The shooting was the starting point for a systematic extermination of a population group - the Tutsis. More than 800,000 people lost their lives during the 100-day genocide. As 75 percent of the Tutsis were exterminated, the exiled army of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, RPF, drove the genocides to flee across the border into Zaire (now called DR Congo). 10,000 have been convicted by the court of active participation in genocide, while a UN tribunal has convicted 62 of the major perpetrators. trial in Rwanda. Arguments that Danish courts did not assess should stand in the way of an extradition in 2018. The accused seems calm and very focused. He has been imprisoned for five years, first in Denmark and later in Rwanda, so he has had enough time to prepare his defense with his Rwandan lawyer. If he does not succeed in convincing the judges of his innocence, he can look forward to many years in prison. As part of the extradition agreement between Denmark and Rwanda, however, he will be allowed to serve his sentence in Denmark.