A 61-year-old Rwandan priest has been arrested in France for crimes against humanity related to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in which more than a million people died.

The central office on crimes against humanity, genocides and war crimes arrested the priest in Trappes, north-central France, with the mission to execute an international arrest warrant issued by Rwanda’s prosecution.

By press time, the Prosecutor-General’s office was yet to establish the identity of the suspect under arrest.

Prosecutor-General Richard Muhumuza told The New Times that they were still gathering information on the suspect.

But courts accuse the man, who is said to have been close to the government and the family of President Juvenal Habyarimana, of killing between 25 and 1,000 university students and their families by revealing their whereabouts to Interahamwe militia.

The priest, who retains the status thanks to his military chaplain position, is alleged to have let atrocities take place. Some also accuse him of having carried out interrogations and to have controlled and used information to track down Tutsis.

The suspect managed to escape the country after the Genocide, aided by friends within the Church. After going through several African countries, he landed in France in 1997, where he applied for political asylum.

After spending some time in Haute-Garonne, he moved to Trappes, where he works as a social mediator for the town hall.

He was directly brought before the magistrates of the Court of Appeal of Versailles, before being released under court supervision.

Judges of the investigating chamber, who are expected to receive the entire record in the next few days, will then decide whether to extradite the sexagenarian.

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