US jury deadlocked in Rwanda genocide trial

WICHITA, Kansas (AFP) - A Kansas jury deadlocked Tuesday on whether an elderly Rwandan immigrant committed genocide 17 years ago, convicting him only on a charge that he lied to US immigration officials.

The verdict, coming at the end of a lengthy, expensive immigration trial, leaves uncertain the future of 84-year-old Lazare Kobagaya.

US District Judge Monti Belot allowed Kobagaya to remain free on bail while a pre-sentencing report is prepared and defense attorneys file an expected appeal.

Prosecution witnesses brought from Africa had testified that Kobagaya ordered people killed and beaten and their homes burned during Rwanda's 1994 genocide, in which at least a half-million people were slain.

One of two counts against Kobagaya alleged that he lied to US immigration officials when he denied participating in genocide.

The eight-man, four-woman jury couldn't reach an agreement on that count.

Instead, they convicted Kobagaya of lying to immigration officials when he claimed to live in Burundi, not Rwanda, from 1993 to 1995.

"As I understand it, they didn't convict him on anything violent at all," defense attorney Kurt Kerns said as he left the courthouse with Kobagaya and the defendant's family.

Kerns said he couldn't comment further because of instructions from Judge Belot.

US prosecutors declined comment about whether they intend to re-try Kobagaya on the deadlocked charged or attempt to deport him based on the conviction they obtained.

According to most sources, 500,000 to 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda during a three-month period, most of them ethnic Tutsis slain by the majority Hutu group.

Prosecutors claim that Kobagaya, a Hutu, contributed to the deaths of thousands of Tutsi, including personally ordering the murders of at least nine people.