he Residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MTPIR) has ordered that millionaire Félicien Kabuga, considered the main financier of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, be transferred to The Hague to answer for the crimes committed more than two decades ago.
Kabuga was arrested in May on the outskirts of Paris, where he lived under a false identity, and at the end of April the French Justice gave the green light for his transfer to answer for seven charges of genocide and crimes against Humanity perpetrated in 1994, when 800.000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred.
MTPIR Judge Alain Bonomy has accepted a request from Kabuga to be transferred to The Hague instead of Arusha (Tanzania), where he was originally going to be sent. The accused alleged that his return to Africa would violate his fundamental rights and endanger his health - although his exact age is not known, he would have been born between 1933 and 1935 - citing as arguments the poor management of the Tanzanian government of the coronavirus pandemic.
The judge has partially admitted his allegations and has modified the arrest warrant, in such a way that the Rwandan detainee is transferred to the United Nations Detention Unit in The Hague, headquarters of the main international judicial organizations.
In this sense, Bonomy has highlighted that "the transit from France to Tanzania would involve a trip of more than eleven hours of flight, including the passage through three airports." "Direct transit to The Hague is simpler and more direct, with several hours by road or an hour in the air," he argued.
He also pointed out that the medical teams and the MTPIR “require more information to make an informed assessment of Kabuga's ability to travel and to receive effective treatment in Arusha, for which they have recommended his transfer to the branch in The Hague to a medical evaluation ”.
The judge has also stated that "there are exceptional circumstances" and that "it is in the interest of justice to modify the arrest warrant and the transfer order so that Kabuga is temporarily transferred to The Hague for a detailed medical evaluation."
"This decision and the protocols related to the coronavirus pandemic could have practical implications in the initial appearance, due to the need for Kabuga to perform a ten-day quarantine upon arrival and undergo medical tests," he said.
Kabuga was arrested in May in Asnières del Seine, where he resided under a false identity, in a "sophisticated and coordinated operation, with simultaneous searches in several places". The tycoon was in search and capture of Interpol by order of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which accuses him of seven counts of genocide and crimes against Humanity for genocide.
The suspect, an ethnic Hutu businessman, is accused of financing the militias that perpetrated the massacre of nearly 800.000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus over a period of 1994 days in XNUMX. He was also the chairman of the management committee of Radio Televisión Libre de las Mil Colinas (RTLM), considered "the voice of genocide."