A Rwandan tycoon charged over the country's 1994 genocide and arrested in France this weekend after some 25 years on the run appeared Tuesday before Paris prosecutors in the first stage of a process that may see him handed over to an international court.
Felicien Kabuga, 84, one of the last key fugitives wanted over the genocide, was arrested at his home outside Paris on Saturday after living for years under a false identity.
Kabuga, once one of Rwanda's richest men, was indicted by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1997 on seven counts, including genocide.
The tribunal formally closed in 2015 and its duties have since been taken over by the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT).
Kabuga was escorted from his Paris prison to the hearing with prosecutors at the Paris court of appeal. He was then formally notified of the MICT arrest warrant. He will then appear before the investigation chamber of the court of appeal, which will examine the warrant and give an opinion over whether he should be extradited to the MICT. That hearing should take place on Wednesday but the defense wants it delayed to May 27. The chamber then has 15 days to give its ruling.
Even if it delivers a favorable opinion, Kabuga can still take his case to France's Court of Cassation, which would have two months to give a ruling.
If extradited, Kabuga is expected to be tried at the MICT's branch in Arusha in Tanzania.
Around 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis but also moderate Hutus, were slaughtered over 100 days by ethnic Hutu extremists during the 1994 genocide.
Kabuga is accused of creating the notorious Interahamwe militia that carried out massacres and the Radio-Television Libre des Mille Collines which, in its broadcasts, incited people to murder. He is alleged to have used his wealth and influence during the genocide to funnel money to militia groups as chairman of the Fonds de Defense Nationale (FDN) fund.
The U.S. State Department hailed the arrest as "a milestone for international justice, and a message to all fugitives indicted for genocide that they will be brought to justice."
Along with former defense minister Augustin Bizimana and top-ranking military figure Protais Mpiranya, both still at large, Kabuga was one of the three most significant suspects still sought over the genocide.
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