Rwanda to file Genocide charges against Mbarushimana

Prosecutors will file Genocide charges against Callixte Mbarushimana, leader of the FDLR (Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda) militia, even though he was released last week by The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC was trying Mbarushimana for crimes committed under his command by the FDLR in the volatile east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in 2009, and not his alleged participation in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. “We shall definitely press original Genocidal charges. He never faced those charges at the ICC. We said in the past and we so repeat, that, there is no relenting until he faces his day in court,” Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga, said on Monday. Rwanda has in the past issued an indictment for his arrest but French authorities paid no heed. Mbarushimana is believed to have played a role in organizing and executing killings during the 1994 Genocide, where he was a computer technician in the UNDP office in Kigali. In 2001, a UN investigative team linked Mbarushimana with the murder of 32 people, including Tutsi colleagues at the UNDP. After closely monitoring the trial at the ICC, Rwandan prosecutors, remain undeterred as they seek to bring him to justice for his alleged involvement in the Genocide. Mbarushimana was arrested in France last October after the ICC Prosecution issued a warrant for his arrest on five counts of crimes against humanity and eight counts of war crimes, committed by FDLR in DRC. On October 11, 2010, Mbarushimana was arrested in France, where he had been living as a political refugee since 2003. On arrival in French capital, Paris, Mbarushimana was taken by police to meet an investigating magistrate who is to notify him of his parole conditions, says the AFP. Despite ICC charges being dropped, the AFP says he is under investigation in France for his alleged role in the 1994 Genocide, hence the interview with the judge. Mbarushimana chose to return to France, where he has political refugee status. He has lived and worked in the European country as a computer specialist. james.karuhanga@newtimes.co.rw

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Rwanda to file Genocide charges against Mbarushimana