Rwandan Genocide - Radio Station Chief Finally on Trial at Hague

The Hague-based UN court has commenced hearing the case of Félicien Kabuga, a key suspect of the genocide perpetrated largely against the Tutsi. 

The 89-year-old - a businessman and radio station chief of Radio Television Libre des Milles Collines (RTLM) before and during the genocide - is facing seven charges. These include: genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, attempt to commit genocide and conspiracy to commit genocide. Other charges include persecution and extermination - both are crimes against humanity. It is alleged that Kabuga used his radio station to incite Hutu militias against the Tutsi minority ethnic group and some moderates from the Hutu and Twa ethnic groups.

Kabuga is being tried by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunal, which took over from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

During the September 29th hearing, the prosecutors presented to court their opening statement in which they detailed how Kabuga provided weapons, financial and moral support towards the atrocious genocide against the Tutsi.

They said in detail how Kabuga enjoyed the trappings of power before and during the genocide, which he partly derived from his personal ties with ex-President Juvenal Habyarimana.

Kabuga was arrested in May 2020 in Paris, France, putting an end on a 26-year manhunt for the man who earned the nick-name "Financier of Genocide".