WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – The government spent close to $1 million prosecuting a Kansas man suspected of participating in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Partial records obtained through an open records request by The Associated Press show the government spent $397,600 for travel, meals, hotels, translators, witness fees and transcription costs to prosecute Lazare Kobagaya.
The one-page summary offers only a glimpse of partial expenses since the Justice Department withheld nine pages responsive to the AP request, claiming exemptions for “unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
Kobagaya’s court-appointed attorney says defense costs and attorney’s fees were more than $350,000.
Jurors say the judge told them after trial that the government spent more than $1 million on the case.
All charges were dismissed against Kobagaya, a Burundian immigrant who is a U.S. citizen living in Topeka.