Rwanda rebel leader extradited to The Hague to face ICC trial

Rwanda rebel leader extradited to The Hague to face ICC trial

2011-01-26 05:39:26 GMT+7 (ICT)

THE HAGUE (BNO NEWS) -- An exiled Rwandan rebel leader on Tuesday was extradited from France to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to face trial over war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Callixte Mbarushimana, 47, was the commander of the Rwandan FDLR rebel force. He moved to France as a political refugee in 2002 and has worked since as a computer technician.

He was arrested in October 2010 by French authorities after the ICC issued a warrant over war crimes including murders, rapes and tortures that took place in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 2009.

The extradition request was approved in November 2010 but the transfer was delayed. Mbarushimana arrived at the ICC detention centre located in The Hague at about 3:15 p.m. local time.

Mbarushimana is scheduled to attend his initial appearance hearing before Pre-Trial Chamber I shortly. The Chamber will inform the detainee on the charges against him and will schedule the date for the confirmation of charges hearing.

According to the arrest warrant issued last September, the rebel leader is accused of five counts of crimes against humanity: murder, torture, rape, inhumane acts and persecution; and six counts of war crimes: attacks against the civilian population, destruction of property, murder, torture, rape and inhuman treatment.

"Callixte Mbarushimana was a top leader of the Rwandan armed group FDLR, the last incarnation of the group of persons who committed the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, and whose activities in the DRC triggered the Congo wars," said ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

Mbarushimana has been the Executive Secretary of the Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda (FDLR) since July 2007. The FDLR leadership decided to launch an offensive targeting the civilian population of the Kivus.

The rebel leader, as part of the FDLR Steering Committee, personally and intentionally contributed to the common plan by organizing and conducting an international campaign to extort concessions of political power for the FDLR.

"He lived in Paris, contributing from afar to the group's criminal plan, while FDLR troops continued for years to spread terror in Eastern Congo, murdering, torturing and raping on a massive scale," the ICC prosecutor added.

Mbarushimana, a former United Nations employee, is also accused of directing and participating in the murder of 32 people, including UN employees, in 1994 during the Rwandan Genocide.

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