Kabuga’s delay tactics will not deter justice

The UN’s International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), on Thursday, September 29, commenced the long-awaited trial of top Genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga, for his crimes in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

The trial was welcomed by many from the international community, Genocide survivors, families of the victims, and Rwandans, who thought the day will never come. It shows that justice can be done.

Known as the ‘Genocide financier’, Kabuga financed large purchases of crude weapons including machetes which were used by the killers during the Genocide. During months preceding the Genocide, the businessman bought more than half a million of dollars’ worth of machetes.

Additionally, he was a major shareholder of hate radio station RTLM that called upon the population to massacre the Tutsi. It gave them detailed information on the people to be massacred and where to find them.

Kabuga was very close to the genocidal regime of President Juvénal Habyarimana. One of Kabuga’s daughters is married to the former president’s son. Furthermore, he participated in plots to identify the Tutsi to be killed, as well as conspiracy to commit Genocide through his radio’s many broadcast statements inciting people to kill the Tutsi.

Arrested in France in May 2020, Kabuga is charged with seven counts, including five related to genocide; genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, attempt to commit genocide and conspiracy to commit genocide. Other charges include persecution and extermination – both as crimes against humanity, all committed between April 6 and July 17, 1994.

Kabuga described all charges against him as “lies”, and pleaded “not guilt” to all the charges. He claimed that the Tutsi were his clients and he used to give them credit to boost their businesses, and therefore, he could not turn against his clients and kill them.

While the trial comes as a relief to many, to Kabuga and his family, the wish is for the judicial process to be delayed as long as possible.

For starters, he decided not to show up in court for the beginning of the trial, or to follow the hearing online, despite being found to be safe and sound. This was done as a protest against a refusal to let him change lawyers.

On several occasions, Kabuga tried to replace his lawyer, Emmanuel Altit, without success. He requested that Altit be replaced by Peter Robinson, an American lawyer known to defend Genocide suspects including Joseph Nzirorera, former leader of MRND, and Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda, who was the Rwandan Minister of Higher Education during the Genocide, and was sentenced to life imprisonment by the ICTR for the massacre of thousands of Tutsi at Gikomero Parish in Kigali.

Later on, Kabuga and his son brought in Philippe Larochelle, a Canadian lawyer with a portfolio similar to Robison’s. It didn’t work.

The Trial Chamber rejected all the requests, simply because the change of counsel would delay the proceedings. At the start of the trial, the judges ordered that proceedings go on, despite his absence.

On several other occasions, Kabuga claimed that he is not fit to stand trial, but all his appeals were rejected with medical assessments proving otherwise.

Close to three decades, Kabuga was able to hide with the help of his large rich family, moving with different passports to secret homes in countries including France. However, 28 years after the Genocide, and two years after his arrest, he can no longer outrun his fate.

He will face justice for his crimes.