Uwinkindi finally arrives in Kigali

Genocide suspect Jean Bosco Uwinkindi this evening arrived in the Rwandan capital Kigali hours after losing a petition for a stay of his transfer from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).The decision to transfer Uwinkindi to Kigali was first taken in June, 2011, and upheld by an appeals chamber later in December.A seemingly pensive Uwinkindi arrived at the Kigali International Airport aboard a commercial RwandAir flight at 6p.m, and was later delivered to Rwandan prosecutors, who, in turn, handed him over to designated judicial police officers.Among the officials who witnessed his arrival were the ICTR Spokesperson and Roland Amousouga, the head of Rwanda’s Genocide Fugitives Tracking Unit, John Bosco Siboyintore, and the Spokesperson of the National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA), Alain Mukurarinda.Uwinkindi was shortly afterwards driven away to a special transit facility at the Kigali Central Prison – where he joined Leon Mugesera, another Genocide suspect deported from Canada earlier this year.“The NPPA would like to thank the ICTR generally for the significant vote of confidence it has given to the Rwandan justice system, and for the smooth execution of this transfer,” reads a statement signed by Mukurarinda.Uwinkindi becomes the first suspect to be transferred from the Tanzania-based UN court to Rwanda, with the tribunal having also referred to Kigali files for two Genocide fugitives.Uwinkindi, a former Pastor of the Pentecostal Church in Kanzenze, Bugesera in the former Kigali-Rural prefecture, is accused of unleashing killers on thousands of Tutsi refugees, including members of his church, during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.His indictment alleges that he led a group of killers to look for and exterminate Tutsi civilians, and on numerous occasions planned, instigated, ordered and committed acts of genocide against Tutsi. The prosecution says that after Uwinkindi fled Rwanda in July 1994, about 2,000 corpses were found near his former church.Uwinkindi is charged with three counts of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity.