Montreal ? Survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide watched as the first person charged under Canada’s War Crimes Act appeared in court in handcuffs Thursday to face allegations he took part in the slaughter of his fellow countrymen.

Desire Munyaneza, 39, was arraigned last month in Montreal on two counts of genocide, two counts of crimes against humanity and three charges of war crimes.

He is accused of leading attacks on Tutsis at the National University of Rwanda and south of the capital, Kigali, during the 1994 genocide, in which more than half a million members of the Tutsi ethnic minority and politically moderate Hutus were slain.

Canada denied Munyaneza, a Hutu, refugee status in September 2000 and he lost several appeals. An Immigration and Refugee Board panel also found there were reasons to believe he had participated in crimes against humanity.