Kigali — Defence lawyers, prosecutors, a Superior Court Justice and a handful of support staff are off to France from Canada this weekend to spend two weeks questioning three witnesses in Mr. Désiré Munyaneza's war crimes trial, RNA has established.

Munyaneza, who is charged with participating in the 1994 Genocide which claimed the lives of over a million lives, according to survivors' umbrella organization IBUKA, will remain in custody here.

So far, Munyaneza's sister, a Belgian citizen, and a 51-year-old Montreal man of Rwandan origin, whose identity is protected for fear of reprisals against family members in here in Rwanda, have testified for the defence in Quebec Superior Court.

Both have denied seeing Mr. Munyaneza on the streets of Butare (now part of the Southern Province), during the mass slaughter of the Tutsi by extremist militias between April and July 1994.

According to a Canadian daily The Gazette, the three witnesses due to testify in France were unable to travel to Canada without jeopardizing their immigration status in Europe. Their testimony will be held in camera, but transcripts will be made public once it's decided what elements will be entered as evidence, the daily said.

The trial is to resume in Canada Feb. 4 for a month, and afterwards, a rogatory commission may be held in Rwanda and Tanzania, or those witnesses may come to Canada, defence lawyer Richard Perras told the paper in an interview.

The crown held its own rogatory commission for five weeks in Rwanda last February at a cost to taxpayers of more than half a million dollars.

Perras said he expects a judgment in the trial, which began last March, 17 months after Munyaneza's arrest in Toronto, by the end of this year.

Munyaneza, a father of two young children, is the first person to be charged under Canada's War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity Act. If found guilty, he faces a life sentence, which he'll serve in Canada.

He was moved to a solitary wing of the prison last year after being severely beaten by another inmate and Perras said being alone has been very difficult for his client.

He rarely sees his wife and recieves no visits from the children.

"He spends all his time going over every detail of his case," he said in an interview.