International
Calls grow for UK to help bring 5 key Genocide suspects to book
Survivors
of the genocide against the Tutsi have once again called on
the United Kingdom to either put on trial or extradite five suspects who have
been living in this country for more than two decades. The key suspects
are; Vincent Bajinya, Celestin Ugirashebuja, Charles Munyaneza, Emmanuel and
Celestin Mutabaruka.
Rwanda first notified the UK government of the presence of these
suspects on its soil back in 2007 when they issued indictments. An extradition battle ensued with Rwandan
prosecution winning the first case in 2008 before the suspects appealed on
the grounds that they would not get fair hearing in Rwanda. In 2009, an appeals
court ruled in their favour.
Rwanda made a fresh extradition bid at Westminster Magistrates Court in
2013 following judicial reforms but again it lost. However, In 2015 and in 2017, a British District Court and the
High Court ruled respectively, that there was compelling evidence of the
involvement of the five in the genocide against the Tutsi, but none of them
could be extradited to Rwanda because that would breach their human
rights. The court did not rule on what would be done to bring the group to
justice.
Big ‘debt’
The Executive Secretary of the umbrella organisation of survivors
associations; Ibuka, Naphtal Ahishakiye told The New Times in a telephone
interview that the UK owes a big ‘justice debt’ to victims and survivors.
“There
are survivors who are no longer with us who passed on years later knowing that
people like Bajinya are living a comfortable and free life in the UK. It is
unfair and the UK owes those who are gone and those who are still here a big
debt of justice debt,” he said.
Ahishakiye
said that as long as there is little to no political will, delivering justice
to the victims and survivors is going to continue being a challenge.
“It is discouraging because if they cannot put on trial
or extradite these five, what about the rest? The fact that these five are
now elderly is a reminder that indeed justice has not only been delayed, it has
been denied,” he said. He called on the UK to pick
a leaf from countries like The Netherlands which has tried and even extradited
some suspects.
Demeaning to the victims
The
president of the Alumni of Genocide Survivors’ Students Association (GAERG),
Egide Gatari, says to survivors, this can be interpreted as
undermining those who were killed and the ones that survived.
“As survivors, the only thing that we request for is justice.
Hearing that a country like the UK that has functional laws and a reputable
human rights record continues to protect those who participated in the killings
can be interpreted as not giving value to the innocent people that were
brutally killed and those that survived,” he said.
He said that this is a reminder that the UK has
adamantly declined to understand or even participate in the aftershocks of the
genocide including adamantly refusing to call the genocide against the Tutsi
its actual name.
Not seeking revenge
In April this year, the Minister of Justice and State Attorney
Johnston Busingye told Members of the United Kingdom House of
Lords and other Members of the British Parliament that Rwanda
is not interested in revenge and will not prejudge the five
suspects. “Whether they are innocent or guilty will be decided by courts. All
we seek is that due process is followed and that justice, so far delayed, does
not end up denied,” he said.
Members of the United Kingdom House
of Lords earlier this year announced the formation of a group
that is expected to urge the UK government to bring to justice genocide
fugitives who are still roaming in the country.
Busingye
reminded that it has been 15 years of attempts to bring the five to justice
saying that when extradition was denied, Rwanda had agreed to a trial by the UK
courts.
“We are still watching and waiting, waiting for the one signal
that will show the genocide victims, in their lifetime, that finally there is
commitment to bring these fugitives to justice,” he said.
Who are these suspects?
Vincent
Bajinya, who has now changed his name to Vincent Brown, was a medical doctor
who at the time of the Genocide headed the then National Population Office
(ONAPO). He is said to have been a coordinator of a militia in the
capital Kigali, with several witness accounts alleging that he organised regular
meetings in his home in the days preceding the Genocide where plans to kill the
Tutsi were hatched. The other one is Celestin Mutabaruka, presently a
Pentecostal preacher in the UK.
Mutabaruka,
who at the time of the Genocide was running Crête Zaïre-Nil (CZN), a forest
management organisation in Musebeya, southern Rwanda, is accused of having led
a gang of killers that murdered many people on Muyira Hill in Bisesero in mid
May 1994, among other atrocities.
The other three
– Charles Munyaneza, Emmanuel Nteziryayo and Celestin Ugirashebuja– were
bourgmestres (mayors) for the communes (districts) of Kinyamakara, Mudasomwa
and Kigoma, respectively, all in southern Rwanda.
Munyaneza and
Nteziryayo, whose communes fell under what was then Gikongoro prefecture, are
accused of giving orders to exterminate over 50,000 Tutsi who had sought refuge
at Murambi technical school during the Genocide.
Ugirashebuja is accused of commanding Interahamwe militia to kill thousands of Tutsi in his commune, according to witness accounts.
Source: www.newtimes.co.rw