Rwanda's High Commissioner to the UK, Johnston Busingye, has reiterated the call for trying or extraditing six known Rwandan genocide fugitives who are still roaming freely in European country.
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Last year, Alison Thorpe, the new British High Commissioner to Rwanda admitted that the wheels of justice in her country have turned really slowly with regard to Rwandan genocide fugitives who remain at large in the UK, for nearly two decades.
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Busingye reiterated the call for justice to be served as members of the Rwandan community in UK began the 31st commemoration of 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Five fugitives who have, for long, been known to live in the UK are Celestin Mutabaruka, Dr Vincent Bajinya, Emmanuel Nteziryayo, Celestin Ugirashebuja, and Charles Munyaneza.
'Three others still being investigated'
"The sixth name is reserved as he is still not mentioned for purposes of investigation. The current status is that there is an ongoing investigation against the six with an aim of domestic trial. There are three others whose cases are still being investigated by NPPA whose names cannot be shared at the moment," John Bosco Siboyintore, the Head of Rwanda's Genocide Fugitives Tracking Unit at the National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA), told The New Times on April 9.
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Rwanda first notified the UK government of the presence of the five suspects on its soil back in 2007 when they issued indictments. But following several rounds of arrests and hearings, the UK judiciary released the suspects and ruled that they had a case to answer but would not receive fair trials if extradited to Rwanda.
- Dr. Vincent Bajinya
Bajinya, a medical doctor, was head of the National Population Office (ONAPO) during the 1994 Genocide.
He also worked as a medical doctor at King Faisal Hospital, in Kigali.
He is accused of coordinating a militia group in Kigali, with numerous witnesses testifying that he organized meetings in his home to plan the massacre of the Tutsi.
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Bajinya was born in 1952 in Gisenyi and studied medicine at the National University of Rwanda (now University of Rwanda).
After the genocide, he fled to Goma, Zaire (now DR Congo), and then to Kenya, before arriving in the UK in 2000.
In 2004, he changed his name to 'Brown' and worked for the refugee charity 'Praxis' in London before an indictment was issued in 2005.
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- Celestin Mutabaruka
Mutabaruka, a Pentecostal preacher in the UK, was the director of the Crête Zaïre-Nil (CZN) forest management organization during the genocide.
Mutabaruka was born in 1956 in Kibuye and later worked as a director of forest management projects, including the PPF ISUMO project. In 1993, he founded the UNISODEC political party, which was allied with the then ruling MRND party which masterminded the genocide.
He fled to Tanzania and then to Kenya after the genocide.
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In 1998, he arrived in Oxfordshire, UK, and later founded the 'Bells of Revival Ministries' as a registered company in 2008.
He also established the 'Rwanda Rise and Shine' political party in 2012 before being arrested and charged with genocide in 2013.
He is alleged to have been involved in the killings of Tutsi refugees at Gatare in April, and in May, and to have led Interahamwe militia killers to the hills of Bisesero where massive operations against the Tutsi who had fled to the hills were taking place.
Around 40,000 Tutsi died at Bisesero.
- Charles Munyaneza
Munyaneza was the mayor (bourgmestre) of Kinyamakara commune in southern Rwanda during the genocide. He was born in Gikongoro and later earned degrees from Makerere University, in Uganda, and Maastricht University, in the Netherlands.
In July 1994, he fled to Zaire, then to Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique, using the alias Musa Seliman from Burundi.
In 1997, he lived in South Africa before traveling to the UK in 1999, where he claimed asylum using the alias 'Charles Muneza.'
He was granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK in 2002, and his family joined him. He is accused of ordering the extermination of over 50,000 Tutsi who sought refuge at Murambi Technical School.
It is alleged that he worked with a notorious military Colonel, Aloys Simba, in committing Genocide.
- Emmanuel Nteziryayo
Nteziryayo was the mayor of Mudasomwa commune, also in southern Rwanda, during the genocide. He was born in Gikongoro, and he worked as a teacher before being appointed bourgmestre in 1991.
He fled to Zaire in 1994, later moving to Zambia, before arriving in the UK in 2003, where he claimed asylum under the name Emmanuel Nidikumana, disguised as having come from Burundi.
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He is similarly accused of orchestrating the mass killing of the Tutsi at Murambi Technical School. He is believed to have worked with the Interahamwe militia, assisting them in the massacre of thousands of the Tutsi, especially in the infamous Murambi massacre.
He is said to have ordered their burial in large pits.
- Celestin Ugirashebuja
Ugirashebuja was bourgmestre (mayor) for the commune (district) of Kigoma in southern Rwanda. He is accused of commanding Interahamwe militia to kill thousands of Tutsi in his commune, according to witness accounts.
Born in Kigoma, Gitarama, in 1953, he was appointed Bourgmestre of Kigoma commune, Gitarama prefecture in 1978.
In July 1994, Ugirashebuja fled to Zaire then Kenya where family joined him in 1997.
He studied theology in 1997.
In December the same year, he arrived in Essex, UK and enrolled at Colchester Institute to study IT.
In 2000, he moved to Essex coast until 2006 when an independent newspaper accused him of complicity in genocide against the Tutsi. He is suspected to have worked with members of his commune staff and gendarmes (police) to kill Tutsi living in the local vicinity.
