Rwanda issued an international arrest warrant for Aloys Ntiwiragabo, head of military intelligence during the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda. A preliminary investigation for crimes against humanity was recently opened against him in France, where he may reside.
“We have issued an international arrest warrant for Aloys Ntiwiragabo, suspected of genocide,” which a French media claims to have found in France, Rwandan Attorney General Aimable Havugiyaremye told the press on Tuesday, August 25. “We have investigated his case and we are working with the French unit in charge of fighting war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he added.
The investigation in France was opened at the end of July following an article by Mediapart claiming to have found this man, aged 72, near Orleans (Loiret). Mr. Ntiwiragabo has been the subject of past arrest warrants from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which were lifted several years ago, according to a French judicial source.
The “crimes against humanity” division of the Paris court had sought to hear him as a witness in 2012 in an investigation and had solicited the Rwandan authorities. The latter, according to this judicial source, had replied that Mr. Ntiwiragabo was a refugee in an African country.
Mr. Ntiwiragabo is included in ICTR indictments dating back to 1998. He is mentioned as being part of a group of eleven leaders who, “from the end of 1990 until July 1994 (…), agreed among themselves and with others to develop a plan with the intention of exterminating the Tutsi civilian population and eliminating members of the opposition and thus remain in power.”