BUFFALO, N.Y., Aug. 3 (UPI) -- An attorney for a Rwandan refugee living in Amherst, N.Y., says allegations his client is complicit in the African country's 1994 genocide are untrue.
Instead, Buffalo attorney Mark Mahoney says Benoit Kabayiza, 39, is a hard-working family man who rose from not knowing a word of English to become a successful accountant, The Buffalo News reported Monday.
"We have every reason to believe that the charges against Benoit are false and politically motivated," said Mahoney of his client, a Hutu who Interpol says trained, encouraged and provided guns to mobs who killed and raped Tutsis. "Benoit is married to a Tutsi woman. He didn't kill Tutsis. During the genocide, he protected Tutsis from being murdered."
Mahoney said human rights researcher Alison Des Forges, who died this year in the crash of Continental Connections Flight 3407 near Buffalo, was working on collecting evidence to prove the charges against Kabayiza are bogus.
"She was convinced that Rwanda's system of prosecution was very suspect and that Benoit is innocent," Mahoney told the News.
