RWANDAN former information minister Eliezer Niyitegeka pleaded not guilty on Thursday before an international court trying him in Arusha, Tanzania, on charges of genocide, the Hirondelle press agency reported. The charge sheet at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) includes six counts of genocide, intent to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of Geneva Conventions applicable in times of war. Aside from leading groups to attack refugees, Niyitegeka (47) is also accused of “personally attacking and killing people who had sought refuge at Bisesero”, a mountainous area in the western Kibuye prefecture of Rwanda, where thousands of persecuted Tutsis sought refuge between April and June 1994. Information minister in the interim government in power during the genocide, Niyitegeka, once a journalist with Rwandan national radio, was arrested in Nairobi, Kenya on February 9.