British Minister welcomes Munyagishari transfer to ICTR

UK Foreign Office Minister, Henry Bellingham, Wednesday issued a statement welcoming the transfer of Genocide suspect, Bernard Munyagishari, to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), in Arusha.Munyagishari was apprehended in North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in May after evading justice for 17 years.

Friday, June 17, 2011
UK Foreign Office Minister Henry Bellingham who has welcomed the transfer of genocide suspect Bernard Munyagishari to ICTR in Arusha (Net Photo)

UK Foreign Office Minister, Henry Bellingham, Wednesday issued a statement welcoming the transfer of Genocide suspect, Bernard Munyagishari, to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), in Arusha.

Munyagishari was apprehended in North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in May after evading justice for 17 years.

The former head of the Interahamwe militia in Gisenyi during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, is charged with five counts including Genocide.

"I welcome the news that Bernard Munyagishari has been transferred to the ICTR in Arusha, where he will be charged with some of the most serious crimes of international concern, including Genocide and Crimes against Humanity,” Bellingham said.

He added that his arrest demonstrates that there can be no escape from the reach of international justice.

"The Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has co-operated closely with the ICTR in the arrest of Munyagishari.  I encourage all countries to provide the ICTR with full co-operation as it seeks to bring to justice the remaining fugitives,” Bellingham concludes.

Nine other key suspects remain at large. They include Félicien Kabuga, a businessman accused of bankrolling and participating in the Genocide and Protais Mpiranya, former commander of the Presidential Guard Battalion, who is suspected to be hiding in Zimbabwe.

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