British police arrest 5 Genocide fugitives

THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT has arrested five Rwandan fugitives accused of playing a key role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.The suspects, according to the National Public Prosecution Authority, include three former mayors; Emmanuel Nteziryayo (Mudasomwa commune), Charles Munyaneza (Kinyamakara commune) and Celestin Ugirashebuja (Kigoma commune), all in the present day Southern Province.Others are Dr Vincent Bajinya, the former head of the National Population Office, and Celestin Mutabaruka who headed a project called Crete Zaire Nil.Apart from Mutabaruka, the other four are known to have evaded justice for years because of what legal analysts called ‘loopholes in the British legal system’, after they were apprehended in 2007, only to be released after two years.Strong legal system In refusing to extradite them after it was established that they could not be tried under the British legal system, the UK court based on a refusal by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to send suspects to Rwanda.ICTR, the European Court of Human and People’s Rights and other countries have since said the Rwandan legal system was strong enough to try cases of international nature. “We will wait now for the British courts to go through their procedures and recognise their independence and hope those procedures of court can be completed quickly so that those accused of Genocide can face justice,” reads a statement from prosecution.The statement adds; “we believe all five have a case to answer, which is why Rwanda requested their extradition to face trial. They are all suspects of the Genocide against the Tutsi and crimes against humanity committed in 1994.”“Apart from that [new] one called Mutabaruka, all those others were known in the UK justice. They were once arrested but were released allegedly because UK laws did not permit trying suspected perpetrators of Genocide crimes,” MP Evode Kalima, a Genocide survivor told The New Times.Now, Kalima says, he does not know if the UK justice establishment has finally changed its position in a manner that will finally pave way for the suspects’ extradition to Rwanda where they should be brought to justice for their crimes.Ibuka President Jean Pierre Dusingizemungu welcomed the development, saying “it is fine, let them continue in that path, and let it be an example to others.”Many Genocide suspects have for years used the legal loophole which prevents the prosecution in Britain, of people suspected of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed before 2001, or of suspects who are found on UK soil but lack residency status.