( CNN ) -- Finnish prosecutors will file genocide charges against a Rwandan man in the killings of 15 people during Rwanda 's ethnic cleansing bloodbath in 1994 , authorities said Monday . The case is the first genocide trial in Finland 's history . Accused of complicity in the killings , the unidentified man would face life imprisonment if convicted . `` It is obvious , according to the pre-trial investigation , that the man has committed a crime of genocide in the municipality of Nyakizu in April and May 1994 with intent to destroy the Rwandan Tutsis partly or totally , '' Finland 's prosecutor-general said in a statement . The man , a 58-year-old Hutu , has denied the charges . Stoked by the assassination of then-Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana , extremist militias made up of ethnic Hutus slaughtered ethnic Tutsis across Rwanda , beginning in April 1994 . Within 100 days , an estimated 800,000 people were killed . The genocide ended when Tutsi-led militias backing Rwandan President Paul Kagame ousted the Hutu government supporting the massacre . The Rwandan man was living in Porvoo , about 50 km ( 31 miles ) east of the Finnish capital of Helsinki , when he was arrested . Prosecutors said they interviewed nearly 100 witnesses abroad before proceeding with charges against the man .
The case is the first such trial in Finland 's history . The 58-year - old Hutu was living in Finland when he was killed . Over 800,000 ethnic Tutsis slaughtered in Rwanda by government - led militias .