German police have arrested Rwanda citizen Callixte Mbarushimana, suspected of involvement in the killing of 32 fellow United Nations staff during the 1994 genocide, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
”[Mbarushimana] was arrested on Monday afternoon at Frankfurt airport when he was trying to leave the country,” said a spokesperson at the prosecutors’ office in Frankfurt.
He said the Rwandan was on his way to Russia.
Mbarushimana, a Hutu once employed by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Rwanda, has repeatedly denied allegations that he was involved in the killing of the UN workers, but he is wanted by Rwandan authorities.
The spokesperson at the prosecutor’s office said German authorities had acted in response to an extradition request for Mbarushimana from Rwanda.
”It could take four to eight weeks until a decision is taken on extradition,” he said, noting that the procedure was complicated as Germany and Rwanda had no extradition agreement.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), a UN court that has been mainly trying the Hutu organisers of the Rwanda genocide, declined to prosecute Mbarushimana in 2002 due to lack of evidence.
France granted him refugee status in 2003. Since then, he has been executive secretary of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which includes former Rwandan military and Interahamwe milita responsible for carrying out the 100-day genocide which killed an estimated 800 000 Rwandan Tutsis and moderate Hutus. – Reuters