Rwandan ex-army officer suspected of genocide in the Netherlands | news item
News item | 13-05-2022 | 9:00 am
On Wednesday, May 11, 2022, the National Prosecution Service of the Public Prosecution Service has a 65-year-old Rwandan man from Ermelo. This military officer has resided in the Netherlands since 1998. Rwanda has requested his extradition on suspicion of involvement in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
The man was an officer of the gendarmerie in Rwanda in 1994. According to the Rwandan, he played an important role in massacres in the capital Kigali and in Mugina municipality.
‘The End of the Tutsis’
In April 1994, thousands of thousands of Tutsi civilians fleeing the violence of army and civilian militias sought in a situation in Mugina. The mayor of Mugina, who had the exception to protect the Tutsi refugees in his municipality, was killed by militiamen. army, police and militia had free rein.
Several massacres took place between 21 and 26 April 1994, with 25 April as the low point. Human rights organization REDRESS once spoke to a survivor of the massacre. He described the day of April 25 as the ‘end of the Tutsis’. An estimated 30,000 hamburgers have been killed in the massacre in Mugina parish. The Mugina massacre is still commemorated every year.
According to the Rwandan, this army officer was closely involved in the planning and execution of the massacres in Mugina. He is said to have supplied weapons to militias that killed Tutsi refugees. Some 80 Tutsi civilians who managed to escape history’s massacres were led by the man and accomplices to a home that was subsequently set on fire. The man allegedly supplied the fuel. Eyewitnesses have reported this.
According to the Rwandan style, changing the man to the masses would have resulted in the occurrence of a tutsi slaughter to fall and kill. He is also accused of having a part in the murder of the mayor of Mugina.
Genocide in Rwanda
From April to July 1994, a genocide took place in Rwanda that cost the lives of approximately 800,000 men, women and children. According to human rights Human Rights Watch, Rwandan gendarmerie officers had an important role in directing the massacre. Because of their tactical knowledge and the use of weapons.
Dutch citizenship revoked
The man was granted asylum status in the Netherlands in 1999. As a result of the suspicion of genocide, the IND decided in 2013 to grant Dutch citizenship, in future lawsuits to follow. On May 11, 2022, the Council of State issued the appeal against the withdrawal of his Dutch citizenship unfounded. there was no longer any account for the arrest and the change of extradition of the man to Rwanda. He will be presented to the examining magistrate at the District Court of The Hague on Friday 13 May 2022.
The starting point for the Dutch Public Prosecution Service is that the investigation and prosecution of international crimes takes place in the country where the crimes were committed. That is where the evidence is located, that is where the participants in the proceedings are in language, culture and the background of events, and that is where most of the surviving relatives are generally located.