World IN BRIEF : BELGIUM : Officer on Trial for Deaths in Rwanda

A Belgian colonel blamed for the deaths of 10 Belgian U.N. peacekeepers in Rwanda in 1994 went on trial before a military court in Brussels amid media criticism of the proceedings. The soldiers were killed April 7, 1994, while they were trying to protect Rwanda’s prime minister at the outset of the genocide that followed the death of the nation’s president. Col. Luc Marchal, who maintains his innocence, is accused of failing to foresee and stop the killing of the Belgian peacekeepers. The Marchal trial is the first of a Belgian officer for the death of men under his command. He faces a two-year prison term if found guilty.