Rwandan genocide suspect arrested in France after 25 years on the run
May 16, 2020
Paris [France], May 17 : Felicien Kabuga, one of the world's most wanted men, the alleged chief financier of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda was arrested in France on Saturday.
The 84-year-old businessman was caught in Paris after more than 25 years on the run, The New York Times reported.
"It is historical on many levels," Rwandan's justice minister, Johnston Busingye was quoted as saying by NYT. "You can run, but you cannot hide. It can't be forever."
He was indicted by the international criminal tribunal in 1997 for inciting and financing the killings of some 800,000 minority ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
A tribunal official said that Kabuga, who was living under a false identity, had been tracked down in France following the suspect's communications with family members.
"The Secretary-General welcomes today's arrest of Felicien Kabuga, in Paris, who has been sought by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals [IRMCT] since 2013 for genocide and crimes against humanity," UN chief Antonio Guterres' spokesperson said.
The UN chief said Kabuga's arrest sent a powerful message that people who committed such crimes would eventually be held accountable, even more than a quarter of a century later.
He is expected to be transferred to the Hague-based IRMCT, where he will stand trial.
