Rwanda genocide trial resumes

Bagosora allegedly warned he was preparing for the apocalypse

ARUSHA, Tanzania -- The trial of a Rwandan colonel alleged to have masterminded the country's 1994 genocide has resumed in Tanzania.

Colonel Theoneste Bagosora is accused of ordering Hutu militia to slaughter rival Tutsis during a 100-day orgy of violence that left an estimated 800,000 people dead.

Bagosora was a key figure in drawing up the genocide plan, prosecutors at the Rwanda war crimes court sitting in Arusha, Tanzania say.

U.N. chief war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte was attending the trial on Monday as the prosecution attempted to showing the killings were officially sanctioned, Reuters reported.

Bagosora is charged with three other senior military figures -- Anatole Nsengiyumva, Aloys Ntabakuze, and Gratien Kabiligi.

All four have pleaded not guilty to charges of genocide and crimes against humanity and stayed in their cells to boycott the trial's original opening on April 2, complaining of unfair treatment.

The trial was adjourned after defence lawyers complained that crucial trial documents had not been translated into French.

Defence lawyers say Bagosora has been forced to spend six years in jail awaiting trial and accuse the prosecution of delaying the preparation of key documents.

The indictment against Bagosora alleges he was opposed to concessions made by his government to Tutsi rebels at 1993 peace talks in Tanzania.

He allegedly left the negotiations saying he was returning to Rwanda to "prepare the apocalypse."

Prosecutors say he subsequently assumed control of military and political affairs in Rwanda following a mysterious plane crash that killed Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana on April 6, 1994.