STUTTGART, Germany, May 4 (UPI) -- The German trial of two alleged Rwandan rebel leaders is the first under a 2002 law that melds national and international law, Human Rights Watch said.
Alleged Rwanda rebel leaders Ignace Murwanashyaka and Straton Musoni are on trial Wednesday at a high court in Stuttgart for war crimes and crimes against humanity, CNN reports.
Human Rights Watch in response to the trail said it's the first such trial under laws passed in Germany in 2002.
"This trial will be the first in Germany under its Code of Crimes Against International Law, adopted in June 2002, which integrates the crimes of the Statute of the International Criminal Court into German criminal law and allows German courts to investigate and prosecute them wherever they are committed in the world, because of their sheer gravity," the group said in a statement.
Both men are accused of leading the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda from Germany. They are accused of being responsible for war crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2008 and 2009.
The FDLR was described by the U.S. Treasury Department, which sanctioned the group, as one of the most violent groups in the DRC.
Callixte Mbarushimana, a third accused rebel leader, is facing similar charges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
