Rwanda’s fugitive ex-police chief arrested in South Africa over 1994 genocide

One of the last at-large suspects of the Rwandan genocide — a former police chief, Fulgence Kayishema — has been arrested in South Africa. He has allegedly orchestrated the killing of approximately 2,000 Tutsi refugees in 1994.

The 62-year-old Kayishema was indicted by a UN tribunal on Rwanda in 2001 but has been on the run since then, having spent more than two decades as a fugitive, living under a false name in South Africa.

The Rwandan genocide suspect has been arrested by the South African police and members of a tracking team from the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the ICTR said in a statement on Thursday.

Kayishema, being one of the world’s most wanted genocide suspects, is charged with playing a leading role in church killing of more than 2,000 Tutsi refugees.

“Fulgence Kayishema was a fugitive for more than 20 years. His arrest ensures that he will finally face justice for his alleged crimes,” Serge Brammertz, the tribunal’s chief prosecutor who led the hunt, commented. “Genocide is the most serious crime known to humankind. The international community has committed to ensure that its perpetrators will be prosecuted and punished. This arrest is a tangible demonstration that this commitment does not fade, and that justice will be done, no matter how long it takes.”

Kayishema was one of four suspects indicted by the ICTR in 2001 who were still not accounted for, from a total of 96 indicted, and he was possibly the last major suspect still living and at large.