Ibuka, the umbrella body of organisations representing genocide survivors, has welcomed the latest deportations and extraditions of genocide fugitives to Rwanda. 

Ibuka President, Jean-Pierre Dusingizemungu, said Genocide survivors welcome the extraditions because they are critical for justice.

His remarks come following the recent deportation of Henri Jean-Claude Seyoboka from Canada, in addition to Jean-Claude Iyamuremye and Jean-Baptiste Mugimba who were extradited from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Leopold Munyakazi from the United States. 

Dusingizemungu added: "The deportations and extraditions are also important for national healing because there is no reconciliation without justice. We applaud this demonstration of international solidarity and trust in the fairness of the Rwandan judicial system.

"However, other genocide perpetrators continue to live freely in different countries, especially in France. These countries have to follow the example of Canada, the Netherlands and the United States, and cooperate with the government of Rwanda to bring genocide suspects to justice, whether in Rwanda or wherever they live today. To do this would uphold the dignity of the victims.”

Genocide researcher, Tom Ndahiro, said: "It is a good sign that there is some semblance of awakening in some countries.

"Four deportees from three countries in less than two months is not nugatory, when you have among them, the secretary general of CDR, a former soldier accused of having a role in the death of nearly 80 Tutsi, and an Interahamwe member who killed thousands in Nyanza, Kicukiro.”

The Genocide Fugitive Tracking Unit (GFTU) has sent out nearly 600 indictments requesting countries to arrest and extradite, or try such criminals.

The number of located Genocide fugitives has been increasing given the fact that the GFTU now has 12 Police investigators, in addition to 12 prosecutors who analyse cases before indictments are issued. Last year, the GFTU had 399 indicted but the number shot to 522 in the first three months this year.

Faustin Nkusi, the spokesperson of the National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA), reiterated that Genocide and crimes against humanity are international crimes and as such, states the world over, "have an obligation of trying all fugitives suspected of these crimes or extradite them to the requesting state.”

"We also have a UN Security Council resolution which obliges all states to cooperate and investigate such crimes,” Nkusi said.

Earlier, in March, Ladislas Ntaganzwa, was extradited from DR Congo where there are 119 indicted Genocide suspects.

Whereas in Africa, most suspects are said to be hiding in neighboring DR Congo and Uganda, in Europe, France and Belgium are their main havens. 

Paris, among others, continues to provide safe haven to some of the most prominent genocidaires, including Agathe Kanziga, widow of President Juvenal Habyarimana; Sosthene Munyemana, nicknamed "The Butcher of Tumba”; and Dr Eugene Rwamucyo.

On July 20, authorities at Frankfurt airport in Germany arrested, Enock Ruhigira, a Genocide fugitive previously thought to be hiding in the southwestern Pacific Ocean nation of New Zealand.

According to Dr. Jean-Damascene Bizimana, Executive Secretary of the National Commission for the fight against the Genocide (CNLG), detractors have tried to frustrate extradition by giving a number of flimsy reasons, including one often used by Genocide perpetrators and their cronies, "that the charges against them are political.”

He debunks this by recalling Article seven of the Genocide Convention: "Genocide and other acts enumerated in article III shall not be considered as political crimes for the purpose of extradition.”

The acts for which the suspects are pursued are "not political,” he said, and nor are they based on ethnic origin. "These are crimes under the law which suspects must account for before legally established courts.”

According to Bizimana, the systematic refusal of nations such as France to extradite Genocide suspects to Rwanda "does not rely on any valid legal basis, and this is, without detour, a trivialization of the genocide committed against the Tutsi.”

Presently, the eight most wanted fugitives: Felicien Kabuga, Augustin Bizimana, Protais Mpiranya, Fulgence Kayishema, Charles Sikubwabo, Pheneas Munyarugarama, Aloys Ndimbati and Charles Ryandikayo, are subject to a US Department of State bounty of up to $5 million for information leading to their arrest.

The suspects still have strong individual and state backers, and often change names and location, making it difficult to arrest them. 

editorial@newtimes.co.rw