Belgian prosecutors today introduced their landmark case against four Rwandans, including two nuns, taking more than four hours to detail charges related to the 1994 massacre of 5,000 people in Rwanda.
In wide-ranging testimony chronicling Rwanda's history and the ethnic conflict between the central African country's Hutu majority and Tutsi minority, the prosecution charged two Benedictine nuns, Sister Gertrude and Sister Maria Kisito, and university professor Mr Vincent Ntezimana and businessman Mr Alphonse Higaniro with international crimes under the Geneva Convention.
The nuns, born Ms Consolata Mukangango and Ms Julienne Mukabutera, are charged with premeditated murder and crimes against humanity during the slaughter by Hutu extremists of some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus seven years ago.
They are alleged to have taken part in the killings of more than 5,000 people who had sought refuge at their convent outside Butare, a southern city in the former Belgian colony.
The nuns allegedly helped Hutu soldiers and militiamen slaughter the Tutsis and Hutu moderates.
University professor Mr Ntezimana and businessman Mr Higaniro are charged with collaborating with Hutu extremists in their hunt for Tutsis during the three months of carnage in the spring of 1994.
If convicted, the suspects could face life in prison.