One of the most senior suspects facing trial for Rwanda's 1994 genocide has pleaded not guilty before a United Nations tribunal.
Mr Augustin Bizimungu was head of the Rwandan army during the massacres in which 800,000 people were butchered.
Mr Bizimungu, who was arrested in Angola last week, faces 10 counts of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and crimes against humanity that he allegedly committed during the massacres in which 800,000 people were killed.
He is accused along with other officers of ordering and encouraging the massacres of Tutsis which swept the country between April and July. He is jointly indicted with the former chief of the paramilitary police, the former commander of the presidential guard and two other senior officers.
The International Criminal Tribunal (ICTR) in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha has said Mr Bizimungu was one of the most senior former Rwandan military commanders detained by the tribunal to date. The court has yet to set a date for the start of the trial.
He was the first of eight Rwandans to be arrested and named by the United States as that country’s next target in its campaign to catch leading genocide suspects.
The tribunal has handed down eight convictions and one acquittal since it began work in 1995.