How Felicien Kabuga who financed Rwandan genocide was arrested

Felicien Kabuga who financed the 1994 genocide in Rwanda with a personal net worth of $40m,has been arrested in France.He had been rumoured to be living in Kenya a few years ago.He was arrested by the French gendarmes at 0530 GMT on Saturday, 16 May 2020.

The businessman who rose from a very poor background ,to become one of the wealthiest men in his country, is accused of funding the militias that massacred some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus over a span of 100 days in 1994.

The 84 year old, was living under a false identity in a flat in Asnieres-Sur-Seine, near Paris, he had been on the run and in exile for over 25 years,according to statement released by the French Justice Ministry on Saturday morning.

 A $5 million bounty had been placed on his head by the United States for crimes allegedly committed during the 1994 genocide.

One of his family members,his son-in-law, was arrested in Germany in 2007.

Barrack Obama,the American ex president ,had In a speech given on 28 August 2006 during his visit to Kenya,whilst then a US Senator, accused Kenya of "allowing Kabuga to purchase safe haven." The Kenyan government denied these allegations and described Obama's allegation regarding Kabuga as "an insult to the people of this country."

Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals in The Hague, welcomed the arrest. 

"The arrest of Felicien Kabuga today is a reminder that those responsible for genocide can be brought to account, even 26 years after their crimes," he said. 

 

“For international justice, Kabuga’s arrest demonstrates that we can succeed when we have the international community’s support. This result is a tribute to the unwavering commitment of the United Nations Security Council, which established the Mechanism to continue the accountability process in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia,” Brammertz added.

 

Kabuga was indicted by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1997 on seven counts of genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, attempt to commit genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, persecution, and extermination, all in relation to crimes committed during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

He is expected to stand trial in front of the Paris Appeal Court and later to the International Court in The Hague.