/ 9 February 2001

RWANDA FREES 84 GENOCIDE SUSPECTS

MORE than 80 former Rwandan Hutu soldiers suspected of having participated in the 1994 genocide have been released from jail, the head of Kigali’s main prison said. The 84 were released because there was not enough evidence on which to hold them, Isidor Gahamanyi told journalists. They had been accused of taking part in the three-month wave of massacres that left up to 800_000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead. Gahamanyi said their release did not necessarily mean the former soldiers were innocent. If evidence emerged of their guilt, they would be put back in prison, he added. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) estimates that about 130_000 genocide suspects are still awaiting trial.