![Rwanda ex-Interior Minister pleads not guilty to genocide charges](https://www.jurist.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/jurist-white-text.png)
[JURIST] Callixte Kalimanzira, Rwanda's interior minister during the 1994 genocide [BBC backgrounder], pleaded not guilty to three counts of genocide and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on Monday. Kalimanzira surrendered [JURIST report] to the tribunal voluntarily on November 8. Prosecutors allege [ICTR press release] that he incited the genocide in his public speeches, distributed weapons to be used in the massacres and participated in some of the killings. Kalimanzira has dismissed the charges as "lies" and said that he is "deeply sorry" that the killings occurred. Kalimanzira's surrender brings the total number of suspects detained by the ICTR to 72. The ICTR has convicted 19 people and acquitted three, and trials for 25 others are in progress. AP has more.