This archive report was first published on 19 May 2020.
On Tuesday, 84-year-old Rwandan genocide fugitive Felicien Kabuga is scheduled to appear before a Paris court, bringing an end to a 26-year manhunt.
Published on May 19, 2020, Kabuga is accused of funding militias responsible for the massacre of over a million people during the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi.
He was indicted in 1997 on seven criminal counts, including genocide, and has been on the run ever since.
At the upcoming hearing, the court will outline the legal process before passing the case to investigative judges who will decide whether to hand Kabuga over to a UN court handling alleged crimes against humanity.
One France-based genocide victim support group has expressed concerns over how Kabuga was able to evade capture for so long and what assistance he may have received.
‘He was our Klaus Barbie, our (Adolf) Eichmann,’ said Etienne Nsanzimana, president of support group Ibuka France, referring to two prominent Nazi war criminals.
‘How did he stay on the run for 26 years? For how many years was he in France and receiving help to live comfortably. I don’t think it was just his family,’ Nsanzimana added.
