Rwandan faces genocide charges in Finland

HELSINKI, Finland, June 1 (UPI) -- Finnish prosecutors said they will file genocide charges against a Rwandan man in the deaths of 15 people during Rwanda's bloody ethnic cleansing in 1994.

The unidentified man, accused of complicity in the killings, would face life in prison if convicted in Finland's first-ever genocide trial, CNN reported.

"It is obvious, according to the pre-trial investigation, that the man has committed a crime of genocide in the municipality of Nyakizu in April and May 1994 with intent to destroy the Rwandan Tutsis, partly or totally," Finland's prosecutor-general said in a statement.

The 58-year-old Hutu has denied the charges, CNN said. He was living in Porvoo, about 31 miles east of Helsinki when he was arrested.

Following the assassination of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, extremist militias of ethnic Hutus massacred ethnic Tutsis across Rwanda, beginning in April 1994. An estimated 800,000 people were killed within 100 days.