A notorious Genocide fugitive, who was sentenced to 30 years in absentia by a Gacaca court, has been sighted in the United States. Oswald Rurangwa a.k.a Oswald Rukemuye, was tracked by human rights group, African Rights, to Ohio where he is a student at Central State University in Wilberforce. According to Rurangwa’s charge sheet which African Rights made public, he is accused of having actively taken part in mass murder in former Prefecture de Kigali, now Kigali City, particularly in the Gisozi suburb.Close to 300,000 people were killed in the city. The report titled; “Oswald Rurangwa in the US - Turning Gisozi Into A Mass Grave”’- a copy of which The New Times obtained, contains testimonies of 20 eyewitnesses including, Genocide convicts he commanded now serving their sentences in Rwanda They, link him to massacres at the Parish of Sainte Famille and at Saint Paul’s Centre in central Kigali. Among other charges levelled against him include setting up many roadblocks and taking part in killings in different parts of Kigali. The report also states that one of the most consistent accusations against Rurangwa during the Genocide is that he recruited militiamen, arranged for them to be sent to Gabiro for military training and then provided them with weapons some of which were stored in his house. Rurangwa featured in the trial of a former army officer, Maj. Gen. Laurent Munyakazi who was sentenced to life by the Military tribunal. The two were accused of spearheading the Sainte Famille killings. He also worked closely with the former Kigali prefect Col. Tharcisse Renzaho who is is on trial at the ICTR. Rurangwa was the headmaster of Gisozi primary school during the Genocide. He headed the then ruling Mouvement Revolutionaire Nationale pour le Developpement (MRND) in Gisozi and was reportedly also in charge of recruiting and mobilizing the Interahamwe militias. The report continues pointing out that Rurangwa is said to be responsible for killing of the majority of the people buried at Gisozi Memorial Centre. Ends
