Norwegian court extends Genocide fugitive’s detention

A Norwegian court Tuesday ruledto keep in jail for three months, a fugitive linked to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, as prosecutors continue to prepare the charge-sheet. The suspect, Sadi Bugingo, was arrested in May. John Bosco Siboyintore, the acting head of the Genocide Fugitives Tracking Unit (GFTU), said that there was need to gather more evidence. “It is procedural, whenever prosecutors are still compiling evidence,” he said. In January 2008, Rwanda sent his indictment and arrest warrant to Norway. Norwegian investigators and prosecutors came to Rwanda to gather information and investigations have been going on for two years. During the Genocide, Bugingo was allegedly a high profile Interahamwe militia member in Kibungo Prefecture, now Ngoma District, and a businessman in Kibungo town. He is accused of Genocide, complicity in Genocide, conspiracy to commit Genocide and crimes against humanity. His charge sheet also includes murder, extermination and the formation, membership, leadership, and participation in an association of a criminal gang, whose purpose and existence was to do harm to people or their property. Bugingo allegedly killed people at the Kibungo Catholic Diocese and at Kibungo Baptist Church. He is also accused of participating in the murders of Tutsi in various areas, including Birenga, Zaza, and Nyakarambi. He is the second Genocide fugitive to be arrested in Norway, after Charles Bandora, who was captured last year as he tried to enter Oslo Airport on false papers. Ends

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Norwegian court extends Genocide fugitive’s detention