The Dutch judiciary has opened an investigation into a man of Rwandan origin who is a key fugitive wanted back home to answer for his alleged role in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The fugitive, identified as Jean Baptise Nyabusore, is largely responsible for massacres that took place in different areas of the current districts of Musanze and Nyabihu. During the Genocide, he was the Director General of ISAE Busogo – the present-day Musanze Campus of the University of Rwanda – and, according to witness testimonies, he used his position in society to instigate killings of hundreds in the region. Last month, Nyabusore, who has since been naturalised as a Dutch citizen, received a letter from the Dutch Prosecution Service, notifying him of the criminal investigation. According to sources from the European country, he has not been arrested and remains at his home in the Dutch city of Eindhoven. A report carried in a local Dutch newspaper indicates that Nyabusore, 63, has been requested to return his Dutch passport as formal investigations into his crimes 25 years resume. “Nyabusore, upon reception of the letter, was quick to claim that the Government of Rwanda was persecuting him for his ‘political activism’,” said a source from the Netherlands who is familiar with the case. He’s a member of FDU-Inkingi FDU-Inkingi, which was founded by Victoire Ingabire, has been linked to terror groups based in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is currently a member of an outfit called P5. However, when contacted, prosecution said this was scapegoating, noting that there is a prima facie case based on evidence collected over years as indicated in the indictment. Speaking to The New Times yesterday, Jean Bosco Mutangana, the Prosecutor General, said that the indictment against Nyabusore was sent to Dutch authorities ten years ago. “We do not do political prosecution, we prosecute criminal cases based on facts and evidence we have at our disposal,” said Mutangana. Mutangana implored his counterparts from The Netherlands to consider extraditing him to Rwanda so he can be tried in the presence of survivors whose loved ones he is accused of having a hand in their exterminating. Nyabusore faces seven counts that include genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, complicity in committing genocide, murder, extermination and formation, membership and leadership of a criminal gang. He is specifically accused of directly ordering for the killing of 17 families in different localities in north-west Rwanda. “We remain optimistic that they will extradite him because there is precedence; two genocide suspects – Jean Claude Iyamuremye and Jean Baptiste Mugimba – have already been extradited to Rwanda and are undergoing trial,” he said. The two were extradited by Dutch authorities in November 2016. Mugimba was the Secretary General of extremist political party, CDR and he is accused of being key in killings that took place in areas around Nyakabanda in Nyarugenge District, where he lived. He worked for the National Bank of Rwanda and CDR was at the centre of organising the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, in which over a million people were killed. On the other hand, Iyamuremye is known to have been the leader of the Interahamwe militia in Kicukiro Sector and a member of the Mouvement Révolutionnaire National Pour Développement (MRND). Ironically, Nyabusore has picked for his lawyer, Caroline Buisman, a known genocide denier, who represented Mugimba and Iyamuremye in their failed bid to fight their extradition to Rwanda. According to our source in the Netherlands, Buisman has jumped at every opportunity to deny the Genocide against the Tutsi including during the extradition trial of Mugimba and Iyamuremye. During one of the hearings in The Hague, she told court that the Genocide commemoration activities held by the Rwandan community in the Netherlands, were “platforms for political manipulation.” The statement attracted condemnation by the Rwandan community in The Netherlands, especially survivors of the Genocide among them. “Mrs. Caroline Buisman’s actions do not only anger and offend survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi living in the Netherlands but is also an insult to the people of Netherlands who have stood firmly with the Government and people of Rwanda, genocide survivors, the UN and with the international community who have stood with Rwanda during past commemorations events worldwide,” said a member of a Rwanda Diaspora community in the Netherlands. In particular, the Rwandan national added, Ms. Caroline Buisman’s statement is an insult to the people of the Netherlands who have vowed never to make the Netherlands a safe haven for suspects or perpetrators of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis and other crimes against humanity. Charles Ndereyehe Meanwhile, speaking about other suspects still at large, Mutangana singled out Charles Ndereyehe who has also lived in the Netherlands for over the past decade. “Prosecution sent Ndereyehe’s indictment to Dutch authorities ten years ago. He should be apprehended sooner than later,” he said. Ndereyehe, Mutangana said, did not just play a role in the Genocide, especially in the former Butare Prefecture – current Huye District and surrounding areas – he also continues to openly negate and deny the Genocide. He is a founding member of CDR and during the Genocide was the Director General of the agriculture research institute, ISAR. His role comes up almost every year the commemoration activities are held at both ISAR and at the University of Rwanda in Huye where, as an architect of a criminal group called the Cercle des Républicains Progressistes, openly sensitised university students to prepare for genocide. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
