29 years after the genocide in Rwanda, one of the suspected main perpetrators has been arrested in South Africa. Former police officer Fulgence Kayishema is believed to have ordered the killing of about 2,000 Tutsis who took refuge in the church of Nyange in Kibuye prefecture in 1994, Rwanda’s UN war crimes tribunal said Thursday. Kayishema had been on the run since 2001.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), set up by the United Nations, then filed a complaint against the former police officer.
Local officials carried out genocide
An estimated 800,000 members of the warring Tutsi and Hutu ethnic groups were killed during the genocide in Rwanda. The mass killings were committed by an extremist Hutu government, while the genocides were committed by local officials and ordinary citizens.
Researchers from different South African countries worked together
“His arrest ensures that he will finally be brought to justice for his alleged crimes,” prosecutor Serge Brammertz said. The suspect was tracked down through the cooperation of detectives in several South African countries. The case against Kayishema is being conducted before the successor to the ICTR criminal court, which was dissolved in 2008.
Narrator: List of fugitive mass murderers is long
Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo tweeted after the arrest: “Finally.” She told Reuters news agency that after nearly 30 years there was still a long list of fugitive mass murderers. They lived in different countries around the world. “We will continue to work with partner states and institutions to ensure they are held accountable for crimes committed during the 1994 Tutsi genocide,” Makolo said.
Source: Krone
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