AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -Rwandan genocide suspect Fulgence Kayishema was arrested in South Africa on Wednesday, the United Nations tribunal for war crimes committed in Rwanda said on Thursday.
Kayishema is alleged to have orchestrated the killing of approximately 2,000 Tutsi refugees at the Nyange Catholic Church during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) said.
He has been at large since 2001.
“Fulgence Kayishema was a fugitive for more than twenty years. His arrest ensures that he will finally face justice for his alleged crimes,” IRMCT prosecutor Serge Brammertz said.
Kayishema was indicted by the U.N.’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 2001, which charged him with genocide and crimes against humanity for killings and other crimes committed in the Kibuye Prefecture.
Brammertz said the investigation that led to his arrest spanned multiple countries in Africa and beyond, and was made possible through the support and cooperation of South African authorities.
The Tanzania-based Rwanda tribunal wound up its cases in 2008, after which the IRMCT was established to complete its remaining work.
The tribunal referred Kayishema’s case to Rwanda in 2007, after the country had scrapped the death penalty.
(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Alex Richardson)
