Celestin Mutabaruka, 68, lives in Ashford, Kent. He was working as the director of a state forestry project in Rwanda in 1994. He is alleged to have been involved in the killings of Tutsi refugees at Gatare in April, and in May to have led interahahmwe militia killers to the hills of Bisesero where operations against Tutsi who had fled to the hills were taking place. Around 40,000 Tutsis died at Bisesero.
Two genocidaire who fled to Belgium have been found guilty by Brussels High Court. Witnesses over two months spoke of the depraved sexual rapes and killings committed by Pierre Twahirwa against Tutsis while co-accused Pierre Basabose, his ‘boss’ and a key funder of Hutu hate radio RTLM was equally active in organising mass murder of innocents. Both will service life terms – though Basabose will be in a secure unit due to his advanced dementia.
Finally! It has taken since 1995 – 28 long years – but justice has arrived in the case of former gynaecologist Sosthene Munyemana who has been found guilty of genocide and crimes against Humanity. The ‘butcher of Tumba’ assisted organising roadblocks, imprisoning Tutsis who had been caught in sector office from where they were taken away to be murdered by killers Munyemana controlled.
The death of Laurent Bucyibaruta has been announced. The former prefect of Gikongoro, who escaped justice for 22 years, before finally being convicted in summer 2022 of complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity, had been allowed to continue living at home in Saint-André-les-Vergers for the past year while awaiting an appeal against his conviction.
Kabuga – on the run since 1994 until his arrest in Paris in summer 2020, and on trial at The Hague since September 2022, has escaped justice after medical experts and judges decided his dementia meant the trial could not continue. The UN is now tasked with finding a country that will agree to take in the alleged financier of the genocide against the Tutsis and let him live a peaceful retirement.
Ferdinand Nahimana and Catholic priest Father Emmanuel Rukundo have their demand for thousands of dollars ‘humanitarian aid’ turned down by the UN Mechanism. The convicted genociaidre, both released early and living in Mali, hoped to get on the UN ‘cash-for-killers’ bandwagon – but a UN judgement on 20 April 2023 turned them down
Jean-Marie Vianney Nzapfakumunsi – a senior officer of the Rwandan gendarmerie suspected of playing a leading role in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, has been discovered living happily in Essone, France. Witnesses allege Nzapfakumunsi contributed to the deaths of thousands of Tutsis at Nyanga in 1994. Now a French citizen, he has, like so many alleged genocidaire, so far enjoyed a comfortable retirement untroubled by French justice.
The UK Rwandan High Commissioner implores the Parliament War Crimes Group to stop the continued impunity that protects alleged genocidaire living in the UK in an address to the group at Westminster on 6 June. After 17 years of legal inaction and failure, the UK continues to be a world leader in the promotion of genocide impunity. When will this end – if ever?