A 37-year-old Rwandan immigrant arrested last week on suspicion of committing acts of genocide appeared briefly via video link in an Ottawa courtroom Thursday. 

Jacques Mungwarere was arrested last Friday by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) at the tail end of an investigation that led authorities from Rwanda -- site of the brutal 1994 genocide -- to the United States and Canada.

His case was adjourned on Thursday for one week to allow Mungwarere time to find a lawyer to represent him in the proceedings.

"I have not retained the services of a lawyer," he said from a detention centre, dressed in bright orange prison garb, explaining to the judge that he has requested legal aid but it has not yet been forthcoming.

Mungwarere is suspected of having committed acts of genocide in the region of Kibuye in western Rwanda, police told AFP. A private citizen tipped off police to Mungwarere's presence in the country.

According to the United Nations, some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred in the 1994 genocide.

Munyaneza found guilty
Mungwarere is the second person to be accused of war crimes in Canada, under the "universal jurisdiction" mandate of the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, which came into law in October 2000.

Late last month Rwandan militia leader Desire Munyaneza, 42, was found guilty of crimes against humanity, in Canada's first war crimes trial.

He was sentenced on 29 October to life in prison after being found guilty earlier this year of seven counts of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity for the rape, murder and torture of dozens of Tutsis and moderate Hutus in southern Rwanda from April to July 1994.

He received the maximum penalty under Canadian law and will not be eligible for parole until having served 25 years in prison.

Source: AFA