Rwandan Genocide fugitive, 64, arrested in The Netherlands
Thursday, February 15, 2024
Rwandan man has been arrested in The Netherlands on charges of participating in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

A yet-to-be-named Rwandan man has been arrested in The Netherlands on charges of participating in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

According to Dutch media, the 64-year-old man, a resident of Ede, a municipality in the centre of the Netherlands, was apprehended on February 14 by the country’s International Crimes Team (TIM).

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Born in Rwanda, the fugitive is said to have relocated to The Netherlands in 1998. He is suspected of complicity in genocide and incitement to commit genocide. He is also charged with war crimes of plunder and destruction of property.

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It is reported that Rwandan authorities issued an international arrest warrant for him in 2014 and requested his extradition from the Netherlands, but Dutch media reports that he will be prosecuted in the European country "because of his Dutch nationality.”

It is not the first time that Dutch authorities arrest genocide fugitives in the country.

In July 2021, Dutch authorities extradited Venant Rutunga, the former regional director of ISAR Rubona, an agricultural research institute located in the southern district of Huye, formerly known as Butare Prefecture. The Dutch police arrested Rutunga in March 2019 on an indictment issued by Rwanda’s Genocide Fugitives Tracking Unit (GFTU).

His extradition was confirmed in April 2020. In December 2020 and May 2021, Dutch courts rejected his appeals.

Rutunga was the third fugitive to be extradited to Rwanda, from The Netherlands.