Rwanda: Genocide - Former Kibuye Prefect Pierre Kayondo Arrested in France

(file photo).
24 September 2023

Pierre Kayondo, a former prefect of Kibuye, has been arrested and indicted in France for his alleged role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

According to media reports, Kayondo was the subject of an investigation in France from the end of 2021 following a complaint from victims of the 1994 genocide.

It is understood that his indictment is related to charges of complicity in genocide and complicity in crimes against humanity.

According to the Collective of Civil Parties for Rwanda (CPCR), an organisation that works to bring before French justice people suspected of having participated in the genocide against the Tutsi, Kayondo "actively participated" in the organisation of the exterminations in Ruhango and Tambwe in Gitarama prefecture by providing weapons to Interahamwe militia groups and participating in their meetings.

In October 2021, French prosecuting authorities opened an investigation against him for his involvement in crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in 1994.

Kayondo was reportedly a shareholder of Radio Television Les Milles Collines - a radio station that played a fundamental role in the genocide, inciting massacres and spreading hatred against the Tutsi.

He is also said to have been a member of the Mouvement Republicain National pour la Démocratie et le Développement (National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development), which had close ties to Interahamwe militia.

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