Four men arrested in Britain after being accused of involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide were remanded in custody after appearing in court Friday.
Charles Munyaneza, 48, Celestin Ugirashebuja, 53, Vincent Bajinya, 45, known as Doctor Vincent Brown since becoming a British citizen, and Emmanuel Nteziryayo, 44, were told to return to court on 26 January.
They were all arrested Thursday night after the Rwandan government requested their extradition.
The extradition warrant accused them of killing, conspiring to kill, and aiding and abetting others to kill 'members of the Tutsi ethnic group with the intent to destroy in whole or in part, that group' between 1 January and 12 December 1994.
Gemma Lindfield, a lawyer acting for Rwandan authorities, told City of Westminster Magistrates' Court in London that Munyaneza and Ugirashebuja were both local mayors whose role was to oversee and facilitate the killing of Tutsis.
She said of Munyaneza: 'It is estimated that there were tens of thousands of Tutsis killed in his district and as bourgmestere (mayor), he was very much responsible for the planning of the killings.'
The men were arrested under a new memorandum of understanding signed between Britain and Rwanda, which stipulates that they would not face the death penalty if they were convicted.
Rights group Amnesty International has said it is opposed to extraditions to a country, which like Rwanda, has the death penalty and has expressed concerns over whether its justice system meets international standards.
Around 800,000 mainly Tutsi people, about a tenth of Rwanda's population, were killed within six weeks in the country in 1994 by Hutus.
The genocide followed years of tension between the two groups and was sparked off by the death of president Juvenal Habyarimana, whose private plane was hit by two missiles.
