In 1994, over 100 of the darkest days in human history, one million Rwandans were killed, in the most brutal and inhumane ways possible. We still find bodies. Many in our population have experienced living as a refugee, losing family and loved ones, or being a victim of rape. Many survivors carry scars of the Genocide against the Tutsi. In April, we marked the 29th Commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi. I have travelled up and down the UK attending commemoration events in Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds, Oxford, London, Portsmouth and soon Liverpool. At these events we congregate to listen to the harrowing testimonies of miraculous survival. Their voices strengthen our resolve to make never again a reality and to be united as Rwandans. They strengthen our will to fight genocide denial, a crime that follows the Genocide as night follows day. They strengthen our will to see justice served when it is delaying or not happening at all. For victims’ justice delayed is justice denied. The denial of justice prevents survivors from healing, reconciling or even processing the horrors that befell them. The key reason I am addressing the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) is because there are Genocide fugitives in the UK, 5 of whom we have worked tirelessly to ensure they face justice, but 17 years down the road, their day in court remains uncertain. The Genocide against the Tutsi took place in 1994. In the lead up to 1994 lists of Tutsi families and individuals to be killed were drawn, messages of hatred were spread relentlessly over the radio, militias were organised, and vast quantities of weapons were imported. The whole Government was mobilised; officials, systems, equipment, all in the service of the Genocide. The Genocide against the Tutsi which began on 7th April was a planned, systematic, government-sponsored undertaking. It had been planned and tested for decades and engineered to ensure mass participation of the population. I am giving you this little bit of history because the Genocide suspects who remain living freely in the UK, namely Charles Munyaneza, Celestin Ugirashebuja, Vincent Bajinya, Emmanuel Nteziryayo, Celestin Mutabaruka are not petty criminals who looted or vandalised property. No, they were Mayors or other parts of the Government machine. They are men accused of knowingly and intentionally organising and implementing mass executions. That is the truth about them; the UK received, hosts and finances suspected mass murderers of the citizens of a friendly country, 17 years after knowing the facts. The legal process against these men has been going on in the UK for 17 years, during which the suspects have been heard time and time again denying crime and denying the genocide itself. The genocide perpetrators who remain at large are free to spread their evil Genocide ideology, based on division and ethnic extremism. They are free to spread Genocide denial as well, and their continued freedom emboldens other ideologues and deniers around the world. Those who were lucky to survive these men are there in Rwanda, in the UK and across the world. They remain, 17 years later, waiting, waiting every day for justice, for truth. This seemingly endless process is failing them. Every country in the West where Genocide fugitives were traced, except the United Kingdom, has taken the appropriate action. The US, Canada, Belgium, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, The Netherlands, France have tried Genocide suspects, or extradited, or deported them to Rwanda to stand trial. In 2011, The European Court of Human Rights decided in favour of extraditing a suspect from Sweden to Rwanda to stand trial. Suspects were subsequently extradited from Canada and the US. In 2012 the UN ruled Rwanda’s judicial reforms justified sending suspects held by the International Criminal Tribunal in Arusha to Rwanda to stand trial. Belgium and Finland have held national court proceedings that resulted in Genocide convictions, and the alleged financier of the Genocide is currently on trial in The Hague. Here in the UK, in 2008 Westminster Magistrate’s court approved the extradition of these men to face justice in Rwanda, the ruling was then overturned on appeal. During the extradition proceedings, the District Judge noted that all 5 men had prima facie cases that should be answered in a trial in the UK if no extradition was possible. UK justice already knows and has documented that the suspects have a case to answer. Thanks to The Coroners and Justice Act, passed in late 2009, the crime of Genocide committed after 1991 can be heard in the UK courts. After 17 years of everything except a trial, the men remain free. In 2018, after a referral from Rwandan authorities, the Metropolitan police commenced investigations and evidence gathering. In a debate in the House of Commons, the then Justice Secretary Ben Wallace estimated this could take 3-5 years. This deadline has now passed and there have been no updates on the status of these cases. Rwandan authorities have cooperated fully with their UK counterparts and the ongoing investigations. We know that it takes time to prepare such cases, but after 29 years each passing day is one too many. We fail to understand how in the pursuit of the best interest of justice, all the survivors of Genocide can see is a callous, man-made impunity for the crime of Genocide! We cannot make sense of the timeframes, the lapsed deadlines, and the delay. Time is finite, these suspects are advancing in age. In fact, as we speak in The Hague Félicien Kabuga, the alleged financer of the Genocide is standing trial accused of establishing what prosecutors describe as the most powerful weapon in the genocide's execution, the RTLM hate radio. The available medical reports have indicated that Kabuga, now 90, suffers from dementia, and may be declared medically unfit to stand trial, and spend the rest of his remaining days under the presumption of innocence. It is important to remember that I, and many of you are not alone in the pursuit of justice, there is a whole village behind us. Two weeks ago, Fulgence Kayishema, one of the most wanted remaining Rwandan Genocide fugitives was found and arrested in South Africa, after 22 years on the run. Kayishema was found by the tracking team of the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) in cooperation with South African authorities. The tracking team deals with severe challenges such as fugitives crossing porous borders into new territories and even hiding in geographically remote or unstable countries including the DRC. After the arrest IRMCT Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz stated: “Genocide is the most serious crime known to humankind. The international community has committed to ensure that its perpetrators will be prosecuted and punished. This arrest is a tangible demonstration that this commitment does not fade, and that justice will be done, no matter how long it takes.” It is not too late to right the ship. Let us form a critical vocal mass in the pursuit of justice, let us defeat impunity. Unlike the case of Fulgence Kayishema, we do not have to send tracking units through jungles to remote farms to find fugitives with multiple passports. No, the suspects in the UK are in plain sight, some of them even supported financially by the state. The communities they live in are known, in Bedfordshire, Essex, Kent, Manchester and London. Our relatives and our friends live in their communities. Survivors could and have run into them, innocent Rwandans and UK citizens could be sharing a bus, a café, a neighbourhood with individuals accused of Genocide. No, the problems facing us in seeing justice served are not geographical or documentary, or evidence based, it is not these. I implore you, My Lords, Honourable Members of Parliament to ask the critical questions and find out whether, or when Genocide fugitives sheltering comfortably in the UK will ever face justice. Otherwise, the UK will go down in history as the only country in the West that knowingly sheltered genocide fugitives indefinitely. Rwandans are counting on and looking up to you. The UK and Rwanda have a very strong bilateral relationship that stretches back decades, despite the UK having no colonial links to Rwanda. On account of this, and more we developed our existing strong bonds. But we must wipe away the lingering stain that the impunity of these men leaves on our relationship. Let me end by saying that if we take a step back, none of this is really about words, debate, or politics. This is about the victims and the survivors. All of this is about them, they must see justice served in their lifetime, put simply it is the right thing to do. We will not stop until these men have their day in court, they are put to their defence, and justice is permitted to take its course, I hope you will join us in this cause. The writer is the Rwandan High Commissioner to the United Kingdom This article was extracted from a speech delivered by High Commissioner Busingye at the Annual General Meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on War Crimes which was held on June 6, 2023
