If Kabuga dies now…

Author: Samson Kasujja

• 2023-01-28 05:27:00

Now 90-years-old, Félicien Kabuga is under trial after 26 years on the run. His health is ‘poor’ as he claims to suffer from diabetes, hypertension and dementia. A number of medical doctors look after this Rwandan businessman who underwent surgery twice and had a colectomy in 2019, and received brain MRI scan in 2020.

Nicknamed the “Genocide Financier,” Kabuga is charged with seven counts - genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, attempt to commit genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, and persecution and extermination – both as crimes against humanity. All these crimes were committed during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

The UN’s International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) is trying him in The Hague, The Netherlands, after his arrest in France in May 2020.

Though his trial came as a relief to genocide survivors, Kabuga and his family used numerous tactics to delay the trial as long as possible. They know what delaying the trial means.

As years count and his health gets worse, Kabuga may pass away before the court’s judgment.

 This would be a success to the genocidaire’s family who will celebrate the day the father of 11 leaves without the shame of a genocide conviction.  But that day will be misery for genocide survivors who will experience injustice.

If Kabuga dies now, he will no longer be prosecuted. It would mean dying while an innocent man, even though he was one of the key masterminds of the Genocide.

But what does Rwandan law stipulate?

With reference to Kabuga’s home country laws, if he dies before the trial ends, the criminal action – an action filed on behalf of the public before criminal courts aimed at punishing the offender– will be terminated.

However, the lawsuit against him will go on with civil action – an action filed to seek compensation for damages caused by the offence – which solely intends to seek civil damages.

“If a civil action was instituted before a criminal court, the court may continue to hear the civil case even if the prescription period of the criminal action expired while the action was still pending in the court, the defendant died, the offence is no longer punishable under the Law or even if the amnesty was granted,” says Rwanda’s criminal procedure published in 2019.

If it ever gets to this stage, the law states that a civil action will be instituted against the offender’s heirs such as Kabuga’s family. They will represent him in court hearings. If jury finds them responsible for paying damages, Kabuga’s confiscated property will be sold out for damages payment.

If the collected amount from auction is greater than the payment of damages, the remaining share will be given to Kabuga’s heirs, and if the collected amount is lower than the required payment, then Kabuga’s heirs will have to cover the remaining amount to fill the sum of money ordered by court.

Any auction of Kabuga’s property in foreign countries will require order from national courts of those countries after assessment of his trial.

On top of purchasing the weapons used in the Genocide, Kabuga, was a shareholder of the hate radio station, RTLM, that called upon the Hutu to massacre the Tutsi. It provided detailed information on the people to be massacred and where to find them. On different occasions, RTLM declared that the killing of the remaining Tutsi should be accelerated.