Arusha: Jean-Bosco Uwinkindi, the Pentecostal pastor arrested in Uganda last week has told Judges at the UN court in Tanzania that he is innocent from the Genocide charges leveled against him, RNA reports.

Appearing Friday for the first before judges to hear the charges at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Uwinkindi said “not guilty” when the court asked for his plea.

Uwinkindi was arrested after entering western Uganda from the Democratic Republic of Congo last week. The indictment against him claims he used his church here in Kigali to hide extremist interahamwe militias.

The church had become a planning and launching ground for interahamwe operations to slaughter Tutsis, say prosecutors. He is also accused of ordering the killing of ethnic Tutsis after they sought refuge in the same church.

This means he acted different from other suspects who invited Tutsis and then called the militias.

Until his arrest by Ugandan police, Mr Uwinkindi was one of the ICTR's 11 most-wanted suspects.

The US had offered a $5m (£3.3m) reward for information leading to his arrest.