At least two Rwandan men accused of directly participating in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, were on Saturday night extradited to Rwanda where they will stand trial for their role in the mayhem that claimed lives of over a million Tutsis.
The suspects, Jean-Baptiste Mugimba 56, and Jean Claude Iyamuremye 38, arrived at Kigali International airport at 19.10hrs local time aboard KLM royal Dutch Airlines on extradition orders to account for their role in the Genocide.
Upon the plane’s touchdown, the duo remained on board for about 20 minutes before they disembarked and were led to the detainees’ van that drove them off the tarmac to the terminal where they were handed to the judicial police for interrogation.
Jean-Baptiste Mugimba
“We greatly thank the Dutch judicial authorities for their cooperation and relentless work during the extradition process since 2012. The extradition of these key suspects is message to other fugitives that they can run but they can’t escape the long arm of law,” said the Prosecution Spokesperson Faustin Nkusi.
He added that; “These two suspects will be in Police custody pending the transfer of their files to the prosecution – a process that won’t exceed five working days as stipulated by the laws.”
Jean Claude Iyamuremye
Iyamuremye was arrested in July 2013 at Voorburg, Netherlands while Mugimba was apprehended in the Dutch municipality, Leusden, in January 2014.
They are both accused of conspiracy to commit genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, murder and extermination as crimes against humanity.
Iyamuremye is accused of having led Interahamwe militia in the massacre of 3,000 Tutsi that were hiding at former Ecole Technique Officielle in April 1994.
Mugimba, a former employee of the National Bank of Rwanda and Secretary General of the Coalition for the Defence of the Republic (CDR), an extremist political party that partook in the organisation and execution of the Genocide committed against the Tutsi in 1994.
Mugimba is accused of having organised and participated in numerous killings of Tutsis in the neighbourhoods of Nyamirambo, Nyarugenge and areas of Nyakabanda Kimisagara, Biryogo and other areas in the City of Kigali.