We knew Mpiranya was in Zimbabwe – ICTR

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) spokesperson, Roland Amoussouga, has said the court has always believed that Genocide fugitive Protais Mpiranya is in a sanctuary in Zimbabwe.He said that though the indictment sheet is always confidential and he is not privy to the details of the charges the prosecutor has preferred against Mpiranya, the fact that the suspect was the head of the presidential guard which executed the killings in Kigali City makes him a big fish on the indictment list of the prosecutor.Jean Bosco Siboyintore, the head of the Genocide Fugitives Tracking Unit in the national prosecuting authority, said “he is a high profile suspect earmarked for trial at ICTR” and that being the commander of the presidential guard which was controlling Kigali at the time president Habyarimana died, Mpiranya bears responsibility specifically for senior government officials who were killed between 7th – 8th April 1994.“He is alleged to be responsible for Kanombe killings, including the death of key politicians like Joseph Kavaruganda,” he told The New Times during a telephone interview.Joseph Kavaruganda was the Chief Justice at the time of his death and was a neighbour of the presidential residence in Kanombe which was guarded by the presidential guard.Some of these politicians who were killed between 7th – 8th April 1994 included; Lando Ndasingwa (Minister-designate), Agatha Uwilingiyimana (Prime Minister), Fredrick Nzamurambaho, Pascal Rucogoza, Felicien Ngango of PSD and freelance journalists Vincent Rwabukwisi and Andre Kameya of Rushyashya and Kanguka newspapers respectively.The New Times reported this week that Zimbabwean Police commander for CID Homicide, Peter Magwenzi, had conceded that Mpiranya was believed to be in that country using pseudo names Theophase Mahuku and James Kakule to evade justice.Claims that Mpiranya is hiding in Zimbabwe were first made by the Belgian government last year. The US government says Mpiranya uses several aliases including Yahaya Mohamed, Hirwa Protais Alain, Alain Protais Muhire, James Kakule, and Mambo Mapendo Augustin.Having failed to arrest the top most three wanted genocide suspects; Protais Mpiranya, Felecien Kabuga and Bizimana, ICTR invoked a clause of the tribunal’s statutes, adopted by the judges in plenary session in May 2009, provided for a special dispensation to allow for the collection of evidence to use in the event of a future trial of the genocide suspects in their absence.A prosecutor and a defence lawyer were present during the hearings, but the proceedings do not represent a formal trial.Kabuga is accused of buying tens of thousands of machetes and supplying them to militia who in turn killed ethnic Tutsis in a period of three months.Among Mpiranya’s alleged crimes are allegations that at the start of the genocide he “tracked down, arrested, sexually assaulted and killed” then Prime Minister Uwilingiyimana.The presidential guards, under Mpiranya’s command, are also accused of taking into custody and killing 10 Belgian peacekeepers on United Nations duty that had been guarding Uwilingiyimana.

National

We knew Mpiranya was in Zimbabwe – ICTR