Genocide in Rwanda: One of South Africa’s Last Wanted Fugitives Arrested

Barlamane.com with AFP
|

12:20 – May 25, 2023

Fulgence Kayishema, one of the last four fugitives wanted for involvement in the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda, was arrested in South Africa on Wednesday 24 May, UN prosecutors investigating the case announced on Thursday.

«One of the world’s most wanted fugitives (…) has been arrested in Paarl, South AfricaAs part of the proceedings with South African authorities, the United Nations court said in a statement.

Direct participation in the massacre

He has been on the run since 2001, according to the International Mechanism for the Residual Functioning of Criminal Tribunals.mechanismResponsible for completing the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). According to the indictment, Fulgens Kaishema was murdered on April 15, 1994, along with more than 2,000 refugee men, women, elderly and children at Nyange Church in the commune of Kivumu. He “was directly involved in the planning and execution of this massacre“, the court clarified,”Including buying and distributing gasoline to burn the church with the refugees inside». «When that failed, Fulgens Kaishema and others used a bulldozer to demolish the church, burying and killing the refugees inside.“, he noted.

Fulgence Kayishema, accused of genocide, complicity in genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and crimes against humanity, has used numerous pseudonyms and false documents to conceal his identity and existence, the mechanism says. According to the court, the former fugitive was born in 1961. The ICTR has sentenced 62 people. Others, such as one of the key architects of the massacre, Augustin Pisimana, died without facing international justice. In March, UN judges halted the trial of Felician Kabuga, the alleged financier of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, while they decided whether he was fit enough to be on board.