Rwanda genocide suspect Kabuga arrested in France after decades on the run

[rooster59]

Rwanda genocide suspect Kabuga arrested in France after decades on the run

By Dominique Vidalon and Elias Biryabarema

 

A view shows the apartment building where Rwanda genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga was arrested in Asnieres-sur-Seine near Paris, France May 16, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

 

PARIS/KAMPALA (Reuters) - Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga, who is accused of funding militias that massacred about 800,000 people, was arrested on Saturday near Paris after 26 years on the run, the French justice ministry said.

 

The 84-year-old, who is Rwanda's most-wanted man and had a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, was living under a false identity in a flat in Asnieres-Sur-Seine, according to the ministry.

 

French gendarmes arrested him at 0530 GMT on Saturday, the ministry said.

 

Kabuga was indicted in 1997 on seven criminal counts including genocide, complicity in genocide and incitement to commit genocide, all in relation to the 1994 Rwanda genocide, according to the UN-established International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT).

 

Rwanda's two main ethnic groups are the Hutus and Tutsis, who have historically had an antagonistic relationship and fought a civil war in the early 1990s.

 

A Hutu businessman, Kabuga is accused of funding the militias that massacred some 800,000 Tutsis and their moderate Hutu allies over a span of 100 days in 1994.

 

"Since 1994, Felicien Kabuga, known to have been the financier of Rwanda genocide, had with impunity stayed in Germany, Belgium, Congo-Kinshasa, Kenya, or Switzerland," the French ministry statement said.

 

His arrest paves the way for the fugitive to come before the Paris Appeal Court and later be transferred to the custody of the international court, which is based in the Hague, Netherlands and Arusha, Tanzania. He would then be brought before UN judges, an IRMCT spokesman said.

 

Two other Rwandan genocide suspects, Augustin Bizimana and Protais Mpiranya, are still being pursued by international justice.

 

"The arrest of Félicien Kabuga today is a reminder that those responsible for genocide can be brought to account, even twenty-six years after their crimes," the IRMCT's Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz said in a statement.

 

He added the arrest was the result of cooperation between law enforcement agencies in France and other countries including the United States, Rwanda, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and others.

 

Rwanda's justice minister, Johnston Busingye, told Reuters that a statement on the arrest would be issued but did not specify when.

 

Kabuga, who controlled many of Rwanda's tea and coffee plantations and factories, was part-owner of Radio Television Milles Collines which ran a radio station that fanned ethnic hatred against Rwanda's Tutsis, told Hutus where Tutsis were to be found and offered advice on how to kill them.

 

He is accused of being a main financier of the genocide, paying for the militias that carried out the massacres.

 

His arrest "is an important step towards justice for hundreds of thousands of genocide victims...survivors can hope to see justice and suspects cannot expect to escape accountability," Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, told Reuters.

 

(Reporting by Dominique Vidalon; Additional reporting by Katharine Houreld and George Obulutsa in Nairobi and Toby Sterling in Amsterdam; Editing by Frances Kerry and Ros Russell)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-05-17

 

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[Tug]

Good I hope someone lops that so*s hands off with a dull machete I won’t call him an animal don’t want to insult them

[pegman]

How the hell did he stay free so long? Why the hell did Clinton keep the UN from stopping the carnage? 

 

https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/05/rwanda-revisited-genocide-united-states-state-department/

Edited May 17, 2020 by pegman

[Emdog]

Finally, some great news. While they are at it, how about arresting some of the bishops that were also involved?

[TopDeadSenter]

Not so fast. This has shades of the Ronnie Biggs "arrest". These criminals on the run are all hunky dory until age, ill health and severe illness arrive. Then they say, here I am, and give me priority free health care. Happens all the time. At 84 this guy probably had all kinds of ailments never mind his mental state.

 The biggest crime I see here is that of the French govt inviting him to live there, I wonder if this was in the best interests of French people? No wonder they have hundreds of thousands of yellow jackets out rioting every weekend. A lost country.

 

[simple1]

3 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

Not so fast. This has shades of the Ronnie Biggs "arrest". These criminals on the run are all hunky dory until age, ill health and severe illness arrive. Then they say, here I am, and give me priority free health care. Happens all the time. At 84 this guy probably had all kinds of ailments never mind his mental state.

 The biggest crime I see here is that of the French govt inviting him to live there, I wonder if this was in the best interests of French people? No wonder they have hundreds of thousands of yellow jackets out rioting every weekend. A lost country.

 

Where did you source the info that the French government had invited Kabuga to live in France?

[mfd101]

9 minutes ago, simple1 said:

Where did you source the info that the French government had invited Kabuga to live in France?

Difficult to imagine the French security system didn't know he was there. And French government complicity with the Hutu slaughter of the Tutsis gives the French plenty of incentive to keep him quiet.

 

So, interesting that they've made this move now, after all these years. Perhaps someone else was about to blow his cover so the French thought they'd better get in first ...

[simple1]

1 hour ago, mfd101 said:

Difficult to imagine the French security system didn't know he was there. And French government complicity with the Hutu slaughter of the Tutsis gives the French plenty of incentive to keep him quiet.

 

So, interesting that they've made this move now, after all these years. Perhaps someone else was about to blow his cover so the French thought they'd better get in first ...

So you're saying the other member's claim is speculation.

[Yme]

The last time I saw this piece of <deleted> was in 1994. Pity he won't suffer the same fate as the Tutu he rallied his gangs to butcher. Free accommodation, meals, clothing, medical... and a pup and pony show for lawyers.

[mfd101]

59 minutes ago, simple1 said:

So you're saying the other member's claim is speculation.

Knowing he's there and inviting him in aren't the same thing.

 

I note however that the widow of the dictator who started the whole shooting match (before having his plane shot down), Habyarimana, and who herself is accused of major involvement in the genocide, is - according to yesterday's Le Monde - living cheerfully and undisturbd in Paris.

[simple1]

16 minutes ago, mfd101 said:

Knowing he's there and inviting him in aren't the same thing.

 

I note however that the widow of the dictator who started the whole shooting match (before having his plane shot down), Habyarimana, and who herself is accused of major involvement in the genocide, is - according to yesterday's Le Monde - living cheerfully and undisturbd in Paris.

Sadly often a very nasty world

[metisdead]

An off topic post has been removed. 

[saakura]

1 hour ago, simple1 said:

Sadly often a very nasty world

Money speaks, and looted billions speak more, whether France or UK or Switzerland or anywhere. Ssme same.

[Tropposurfer]

If he's as guilty as touted then slowly draw and quarter his perverse a.se.

[pegman]

6 hours ago, mfd101 said:

Knowing he's there and inviting him in aren't the same thing.

 

I note however that the widow of the dictator who started the whole shooting match (before having his plane shot down), Habyarimana, and who herself is accused of major involvement in the genocide, is - according to yesterday's Le Monde - living cheerfully and undisturbd in Paris.

So Habyarimana walked from his shot down plane? Someone should tell Wiki. How about a link?

[thaibeachlovers]

20 hours ago, rooster59 said:

"Since 1994, Felicien Kabuga, known to have been the financier of Rwanda genocide, had with impunity stayed in Germany, Belgium, Congo-Kinshasa, Kenya, or Switzerland," the French ministry statement said.

Why am I NOT surprised that a rich man was able to evade justice so long. Perhaps the money ran out?

[thaibeachlovers]

3 hours ago, pegman said:

So Habyarimana walked from his shot down plane? Someone should tell Wiki. How about a link?

Read it again, more slowly.

[metisdead]

A troll post has been removed. 

[pegman]

6 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Read it again, more slowly.

Thanks for the correction.