Defence challenges Montreal genocide trial witness

A woman testifying on Wednesday at the war crimes trial of Desire Munyaneza requested transcripts of her previous statements after the defence tried to point out discrepancies in her story.

But Superior Court Justice Andr Denis asked the witness to settle for having portions of the transcript read to her.

"We're not going to take five, six or seven years for this trial," he said, alluding to the slow pace of other trials of those accused of taking part in the Rwandan genocide.

The International Criminal Tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania, under the auspices of the UN, is supposed to wrap up its work next year. It has convicted 28 people so far.

More than 500,000 members of the country's Tutsi ethnic group were slaughtered during the 1994 genocide.

During her testimony Wednesday morning, the witness known only as C15 said she saw a woman named Angela being placed in a sack and beaten after busloads of refugees were taken to a forested compound called Rango.

Angela was then thrown into one of three pits dug specifically for victims of violence committed by the extremist majority Hutus.

"Some of my colleagues saw she was still moving and they took her out of the sack," the witness said through an interpreter.

The woman had been held as a sex slave and now suffers from AIDS, C15 testified. "She survived and, if you wish, you can call her and get more information," she said.

Defence lawyer Richard Perras pointed out that in her statement to tribunal investigators, the witness, who was 17 at the time of the genocide, said nothing bad had happened in Rango.

Munyaneza, 40, is charged with seven counts under Canada's crimes against humanity and war crimes law

He faces life in prison if found guilty.