Genocide suspect's death probed

BRUSSELS - Belgian police have launched an investigation into the death of a former Rwandan minister and genocide suspect whose badly decomposed body was recovered from a canal.

Juvenal Uwilingiyimana, who fled to Belgium in 1998, was indicted in June over being involved in the massacre of 4200 Rwandans during the civil war in 1994.

The former Trade Minister, who denied the charge, had been co-operating with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda based in Tanzania but had expressed concerns about his safety when Belgium's large Rwandan community found out about his contacts with the court.

Because of the state of the body, police have not yet identified the cause of death or whether foul play was involved.

In a statement, the tribunal prosecutor said: "If the cause of death is determined to be homicide, the Office of the Prosecutor expresses the fervent hope that Belgian authorities will be able to arrest and try those responsible for a crime that obstructs justice for the victims of the Rwanda genocide."

The ICTR said Uwilingiyimana had had meetings in recent weeks with its investigators under an arrangement by which indictees can receive lesser sentences in return for information about the genocide.

The Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir, quoted a letter said to have been written by Uwilingiyimana on November 5 in which it is claimed that he ended his co-operation with the tribunal.

The letter read: "I cannot lie for the amusement of investigators and I am ready to accept all the consequences that have been made clear to me: that I will be lynched, crushed, my corpse will be trampled in the street ... "

- INDEPENDENT