This archive report was first published on 10 May 2021.
May 10, 2021 - Lawyers representing Felicien Kabuga, the alleged financier of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, have filed a motion to drop charges against him, citing his poor health as the reason.
According to a May 6 filing to the UN court's branch in Tanzania, lawyer Emmanuel Altit stated that medical reports prove Kabuga, who is 84 years old, is unfit for trial.
“Pursuing the case under these conditions would constitute a serious breach of Felicien Kabuga’s rights and would put into question the fairness of the trial,” the document, seen by AFP, states.
Altit also requested that in the event the court rejects his motion for dismissal, Kabuga should be freed on bail.
Kabuga, once one of Rwanda's richest men, is accused of helping set up hate media that urged ethnic Hutus to “kill the Tutsi cockroaches” and funding militia groups.
He was arrested in France last May and transferred to the court in The Hague in October to answer to charges of playing a key role in the killing of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
The Rwandan faces seven counts including genocide, incitement to genocide, and persecution.
Kabuga's eldest son, Donatien Nshimyumuremyi, recently told AFP that his father's health had significantly deteriorated.
“We can say without a doubt that he is physically and mentally unfit for trial and also to assist his attorney,” Nshimyumuremyi said.
The UN says 800,000 people were murdered in a 100-day rampage that began in April 1994 in Rwanda, in scenes of horror that shocked the world.
