‘Kabuga may be transferred to Arusha soon’

Arusha. Efforts are under way to transfer Felician Kabuga, the alleged mastermind of the Rwanda genocide, to Arusha to face charges.
Once he is in the custody of the Arusha-based UN Tribunal, he will be formally charged with genocide and genocide-related charges in Rwanda.
“The transfer could be in September or October (this year),” said Serge Brammertz, the chief prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT).
He revealed this in Kigali, Rwanda, early this week during the official visit to the country where over 800,000 people were massacred during the 1994 genocide.
He said despite the demands from both the Tribunal and the Rwanda authorities to have the fugitive transferred to Arusha, the exercise may take some time.
“Once he is in the custody of the Mechanism, we will move to the next phase of our work,” he said when addressing the media.
Mr Kabuga (85) is a key suspect accused of playing a leading role in the genocide against the Tutsi and moderate Hutus that rocked Rwanda in 1994.
The horrific manslaughter was triggered by the killing of the former Rwanda president Juvenal Habyarima on April 6, 1994 when his plane was shot down at Kigali airport.
In 1997, he was indicted by the now disbanded International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) on seven counts on genocide and genocide related charges.
The genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide,persecution and extermination, among others.
Until his arrest in his hideout in Paris, France in May this year, he was one of the world’s most wanted fugitives with a $5 million price tag on his head.