The trial of Genocide mastermind Felicien Kabuga currently hangs in balance after a court-appointed team submitted a report claiming that the suspect had been diagnosed with clinical dementia and may therefore not be fit for trial. Court subsequently suspended his trial pending a further analysis of his health by an independent medical team. The report on which the suspension was based had been dismissed by prosecution as shallow and not enough to form basis for discontinuing the trial. Kabuga, 90, is before judges at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunal after he was apprehended in France in 2020, after being on the run for over two decades and a half. Before his arrest, he had used his deep pockets to avoid capture, using multiple identities to traverse countries including some in this region despite being one of the most wanted fugitives in the world. A decision to suspend his trial on compassionate grounds by the UN court is a major blow for Rwandans, especially survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi, who have waited for nearly 30 years to have the man who funded the massacre of over a million people have his day in court. For a man who used his fortune to evade capture well knowing that he had an opportunity to plead his case before an international court, discontinuing his trial only benefits him because this is what he has always wanted – avoiding responsibility for the atrocities he committed. It is what he and his defence team have been aiming at ever since his arrest, with numerous applications in court over frivolous grounds all aimed at delaying the court process. Most importantly, such developments set a dangerous precedent for other fugitives running away from accountability for the crimes they committed here in Rwanda. For close to three decades, hundreds of indicted Genocide fugitives have been using all sorts of tricks to avoid capture just because of being of advanced age. The hope for justice now rests with the team of experts that will conduct further examinations on Kabuga to determine if the trial will go on.
