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APNewsBreak: Genocide-related prosecution costly

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.

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