[JURIST] Former Rwandan Minister of Youth and Sports Callixte Nzabonimana [TrialWatch profile] Wednesday pleaded not guilty [ICTR press release] to charges [indictment, DOC] relating to Rwanda's 1994 genocide in his first appearance before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website; JURIST news archive]. Nzabonimana was arrested [JURIST report] Monday in Tanzania and faces charges of conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitements to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of Article 3 of the Geneva Convention. The UN News Centre has more.

The ICTR was established to try genocide suspects for crimes occurring during the 1994 Rwandan conflict [HRW backgrounder] between Hutus and Tutsis in which approximately 800,000 people, primarily Tutsis, died.