According to a statement released on December 27, 2021, the government of Niger ordered eight Rwandan men earlier convicted for involvement in the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi but had completed their sentences or were acquitted, to leave the country within seven days.

The ex-convicts who are among the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide are Protais Zigiranyirazo, Francois Nzuwonemeye, Innocent Sagahutu, Alphonse Nteziryayo, Tharcisse Muvunyi, André Ntagerura, Anatole Nsengiyumva and Prosper Mugiraneza.

After the conclusion of their cases, they remained in Arusha, Tanzania where the UN court is based, until recently when they were flown out – seemingly clandestinely – to Niger.

The order for their expulsion from Niger came after Rwanda asked the UN Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) to clarify circumstances under which the eight were earlier transferred to Niger.

While addressing a Security Council meeting in New York, last December, Amb. Valentine Rugwabiza, Rwanda’s top envoy to the UN, said that Kigali was not informed by either the MICT or the host country about the transfer of the men in question.

The Rwandan diplomat said there is evidence indicating that some of the men, after their acquittal by the former ICTR, were engaging in subversive activities that contributed to the insecurity and instability of the Great Lakes Region for the past decades. So who are these men?

Anatole Nsengiyumva

He was born in former Satinsyi commune in former Gisenyi prefecture. During the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, Lt. Col. Anatole Nsengiyumva was the commander of the genocidal government’s army in Gisenyi. He was the principal architect and perpetrator of genocide in Gisenyi from April 7, 1994.

 

Nsengiyumva was accused of being the lead killer in the death of Alphonse Kabiligi, as well as for massacres of the Tutsi at Mudende University, Nyundo Parish, and of more than 50,000 Tutsi in Bisesero. Since 1990, he was a member of the very powerful President Juvenal Habyarimana’s ‘Akazu’ clique which prepared and orchestrated the genocide.

 

Before being FAR commander in Gisenyi, he oversaw the office of military intelligence. Immediately after the death of Habyarimana, he ordered Richard Mugenzi who was spying on the RPF Inkotanyi to release a message that Habyarimana’s plane was downed by RPA fighters. This was a ploy to blame the Tutsi for assassinating the president and thus encourage the genocide.

On the morning of April 7, 1994, Nsengiyumva presided over a meeting in Gisenyi prefecture, during which he ordered participants to organize the killing of civilians. During the months of April through June 1994, Nsengiyumva presided over meetings of several hundred interahamwe militia at Umuganda stadium in Gisenyi prefecture, where he urged those in attendance to resume the killing of the Tutsi.

Nsengiyumva was arrested in Cameroon by the Cameroonian authorities and transferred to the prison of the ICTR in Arusha, Tanzania on January 23, 1997. He was initially sentenced to life in prison, but it was reduced to 35 years by the ICTR Appeals Chamber in December 2011.

Nsengiyumva’s sister, Francine Umubyeyi, is the current president of CNRD/FLN a terror group that killed innocent civilians in Southern Rwanda.

Protais Zigiranyirazo  also known as ‘Mr. Z’

 He was born in Ruhengeri, northwest Rwanda. He is the brother to Agatha Kanziga Habyarimana, the wife of former president Juvenal Habyarimana. He was the principal member of Akazu and a well known businessman and Governor of Ruhengeri. He is one of the principal planners and executors of the 1994 Genocide.

 

In 1985, Zigiranyirazo participated in the murder of Dian Fossey, or Nyiramacibiri, an American primatologist and conservationist known for undertaking an extensive study of mountain gorilla groups from 1966 until she was murdered on December 26, 1985 in Volcano National Park in Rwanda.

In 1989 he resigned his position as governor to go to study at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

 

He was expelled from that University and from Canada in 1993 after being convicted of uttering death threats against two Tutsi refugees in Montreal.

 

As Prefet of Ruhengeri Prefecture, he oversaw the killings of former dignitaries of President Gregoire Kayibanda who were detained in Nyamagumba prison after the July 5, 1973 coup d’état by President Habyarimana.

 

Francois-Xavier Nzuwonemeye

 Nzuwonemeye was born in Kigali-rural prefecture.

 He joined the Rwandan Armed Forces and, by 1994, held the rank of Major. In 1993, he was commander of the 42nd battalion of FAR. He was subsequently promoted to commander of the Reconnaissance Battalion. The ICTR indictment indicates that between 1990 and 1994, Nzuwonemeye and other officers conspired to exterminate Tutsi civilians and political opponents, and helped to train interahamwe and other militia groups who committed the genocide.

 

In an indictment last amended on September 25, 2002, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) charged Nzuwonemeye with "conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of the Geneva Convention."

He was arrested in France on February 15, 2000, the same day as his former deputy, Innocent Sagahutu, who was arrested in Denmark.

 

He was transferred to the ICTR on May 23, 2000. He was jointly tried with other FAR officers implicated in the genocide. In February 2014, Nzuwonemeye was acquitted by the ICTR.

 

After Habyarimana's death and the start of the genocide, members of the Reconnaissance Battalion commanded by Nzuwonemeye's deputy,  Sagahutu, "tracked down, arrested, sexually assaulted, and killed" the then Rwandan Prime Minister, Agathe Uwilingiyimana. They also took into custody 10 Belgian peacekeepers from UNAMIR who had been guarding her house. They were taken back to Camp Kigali, a FAR base, where they were "attacked and beaten" by members of RECCE under Sagahutu's command and later killed.

 

During these killings, they were assisted by members of the notorious Presidential Guard (GP) led by Major Protais Mpiranya who is still on the run.

 

Innocent Sagahutu

 Sagahutu was born in former Cyangugu Prefecture. He entered the Rwandan Armed Forces, and by 1994 held the rank of captain. He was second-in-command of the Reconnaissance Battalion (RECCE) and commander of this battalion's A company, serving under battalion commander Maj. Nzuwonemeye.

 

According to the indictment, between 1990 and 1994, Sagahutu and other officers conspired to exterminate Tutsi civilians and political opponents, and helped to train interahamwe and armed Interahamwe militia who committed the genocide against the Tutsi.

 

After the death of Habyarimana in April 1994 and the start of the genocide, soldiers including those under Sagahutu's command assaulted and killed Prime Minister  Uwilingiyimana and members of the interim government. His soldiers also murdered the 10 Belgian soldiers who were guarding the Prime Minister.

 

He was arrested in the Danish town of Skjern in Ringkøbing County, on February 15, 2000. He had lived in Denmark for approximately two years as a refugee. He was transferred to the ICTR on November 24, 2000, and his trial began on September 20, 2004.

In May 2011, Sagahutu and other genocide ringleaders were convicted, and Sagahutu was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Sagahutu's sentence was reduced to 15 years on appeal, and he was granted an early release in May 2014.

 Sagahutu was detained on March 10, 2017, in the Tanzanian district of Ngara while preparing to cross the border into Burundi on fake documents. He was eventually released on May 1 that year.

 

Alphonse Nteziryayo

 Colonel Alphonse Nteziryayo is a former Commanding Officer of the Military Police and later Prefect of Butare in southern Rwanda.

 

He was transferred to Arusha from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, on May 21, 1998, to face charges relating to his participation in the massacres of the Tutsi in 1994.

 

Nteziryayo, who was arrested in Burkina Faso on April 24, 1998 is jointly charged with Sylvain Nsabimana, whom he replaced as Préfet of Butare on  June 21, 1994.

 

 Nsabimana pleaded "not guilty" to five counts during his initial appearance before the ICTR Trial Chamber 2 on October 24, 1997.

 

Nteziryayo, who is charged with six counts, is alleged to have ordered and participated in the killing of all surviving Tutsi in the prefecture of Butare. He is also alleged to have supervised militia training, distributed weapons, and publicly incited the population to massacre the Tutsi in Butare prefecture.

 

Tharcisse Muvunyi

 Lt. Col. Muvunyi was born in 1953, in Mukarange commune now in the Northern Province. 

 

In 1994, Muvunyi was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Rwandan army and was a commander of the military school École des Sous-Officiers (ESO), which was based in Butare, southern Rwanda during the genocide.

After the genocide, Colonel Muvunyi fled to the UK where he sought asylum. He was arrested in Lewisham, London, in 2000 and immediately transferred to the ICTR in Arusha, Tanzania.

 

From April to June 1994, Muvunyi oversaw operations by the Rwandese Armed Forces (FAR) in the préfectures of Butare and Gikongoro, in the south of Rwanda. Muvunyi is considered the ringleader in the massacres of thousands of Tutsi in Butare town and many parts of that prefecture.

In 2010, an ICTR Trial Chamber convicted Muvunyi for incitement to commit genocide for using coded language that called for the extermination of the Tutsi at Gikore Trade Centre.

 

In 2011, the Appeals Chamber rejected both parties’ appeals and upheld the Trial Chamber’s sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment.

Before the killings began in Butare, Muvunyi asked for reinforcements of soldiers from Kigali, and brought militiamen from neighbouring Gikongoro prefecture to assist in the mass-murders of the Tutsi.

On April 20, Muvunyi held a “security” meeting at ESO, making clear his belief that the people of Butare had been “soft on the Tutsi” and that they should join in the genocide that was taking place elsewhere in the country. From that day on, soldiers began killing in Butare town, rounding up the Tutsi at roadblocks and seeking out well-known Tutsi intellectuals and businessmen.

The town became a battle zone, with soldiers using guns and grenades to kill anyone they identified as Tutsi. ESO was swiftly established as a command centre for the genocide.

 

Muvunyi authorised the distribution of arms and ammunition to local government officials to help with massacring the Tutsi.

 

 He received requests for assistance from officials seeking to protect the Tutsi, but these were turned down. Several people were brought to the army base and detained at ESO or at Ngoma police station. Most of them were murdered, but some survived and have given accounts of their horrendous experiences.

 

In the words of one man who was arrested by soldiers and taken to ESO and witnessed Muvunyi’s influence at close hand: “Muvunyi had the power of life and death over the Tutsi.”

 

There are several testimonies about the preponderant role Muvunyi played in the massacres in various parts of Butare.

 

Andre Ntagerura

 André Ntagerura was born on June 2, 1950, in former Karengera Commune, in former Cyangugu prefecture.

 

Ntagerura pursued formal education in Quebec, Canada. He held several portfolios in the government of Juvénal Habyarimana from 1977 to 1994.

During the 1994 genocide, he was the Minister of Transport and Communications and a leading member of the MRND party which then held power.

 He coordinated the massacres of the Tutsi conducted by Interahamwe militia.

Ntagerura was detained along with Colonel Théoneste Bagosora, in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and appeared before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, where he was acquitted of all charges on February 25, 2004. In his indictment dated August 9, 1996, the Prosecutor of the ICTR charged André Ntagerura with six counts: genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity, and violations of Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions and of Additional Protocol II.

 

During 1994, and especially between February and March 1994, Ntagerura allowed and, or authorized the use of government vehicles, specifically buses, for the transport of the Interahamwe militia, as well as for the transport of arms and ammunition to and throughout Cyangugu prefecture and elsewhere.

 

He was arrested in Cameroon by Cameroonian authorities. He was transferred to the ICTR Detention Unit, located in Arusha, on January 23, 1997.

 

Prosper Mugiraneza

 Prosper Mugiraneza is a former minister of civil service in Rwanda in the genocidaire government of Jean Kambanda.  Mugiraneza was born in 1957 in former Kigarama commune prefecture, Rwanda.

 

He is a graduate of the National University of Rwanda in Butare, where he earned a Master of Laws degree. Before becoming minister of civil service, Mugiraneza was a trial attorney in Byumba prefecture, a chief prosecutor in Gisenyi prefecture, a chief prosecutor in Kigali, Secretary General in the Ministry of Justice, and minister of labour and social affairs. He is married and has four children. His wife and children currently reside in Europe.

He was tried for genocide and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the trial beginning in 2003.

 

He was convicted and sentenced to 30 years imprisonment. But after a lengthy appeal, Mugiraneza was acquitted of all charges on February 4, 2013.