Five days after Beatrice Munyenyezi was deported from the United States, the Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) has submitted her file to prosecution. According to the investigation body, the file was handed to prosecution on Wednesday April 21 and the latter are expected to process her file ahead of the arraignment before court. Munyenyezi was in the past sentenced to 10 years for fraudulently obtaining US citizenship by lying about her role in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Munyenyezi also denied affiliation with any political party, despite her husbands leadership role in the extremist Interahamwe militia. After serving her sentence in the US, she was deported to Rwanda to face genocide charges. According to the investigation bureau, Munyenyezi is being investigated for seven crimes; murder as a genocide crime, conspiracy to commit genocide, planning of the genocide, complicity in genocide, incitement to commit genocide, extermination, and complicity in rape. Speaking to The New Times in a telephone interview, the acting spokesperson of RIB, Dr. Thierry Murangira, said that although there was already an indictment out for her, his office used the five days stipulated by the law to finalise some details before handing the report to prosecution. “Yes, she already had a file because there was an arrest warrant that had been issued for her alleged crimes. However, upon her arrival, we had to interrogate her to tie some loose ends. We have completed that process and handed the file to prosecution,” he said. The Spokesman of NPPA, Faustin Nkusi told The New Times that when the file is received, Prosecutors also take another five days to decide on a court date. “Upon receiving the case file, prosecution takes time to interrogate the suspect, prepare written submissions, file them to court requesting for pre-trial detention. Five days is the time prescribed by the law to do all the required preparations,” he said. A welcome arrest Regine Mukamurigo was a mother of two at the time of the genocide. During the Genocide, she lived in Butare prefecture, how Huye District, where Munyenyezi allegedly committed the crimes. She told The New Times in a telephone interview that Munyenyezi and her immediate family’s name evoke many bad memories. “There is no one who comes from Butare who doesn’t remember Munyenyezi, her husband and mother in law and the fear and brutality that they imposed on many. Her arrest should be a message to everyone who participated in the genocide that their time will come,” she said. Munyenyezi is a wife to Arsene Sharlom Ntahobali, a genocidaire convicted by the now closed International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Munyenyezi’s alleged crimes During the genocide, in the now Huye District, Munyenyezi is alleged to have been manning roadblocks and checking identifications to identify the Tutsi. She is alleged to have singled them out and handed them over to Interahamwe militia to be killed. For women, she would first ask the perpetrators to rape them before killing them. Munyenyezi is the daughter in law of Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, who was jointly tried by the UN Court which sentenced them to life in prison. Munyenyezi will continue to be held at by RIB until court orders for her remand or decides to release her on bail.
