Kabuga, accused of genocide in Rwanda, has died in a UN detention center in The Hague — Reuters
Felicien Kabuga, a 93-year-old former Rwandan businessman considered one of the main organizers and financiers of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, has died in custody in The Hague.
This was reported by the authoritative international news agency Reuters, citing an official statement from the United Nations Special Court.
Official representatives of the court confirmed the defendant’s death and ordered a special forensic examination. The court stated that it had ordered an investigation into the circumstances of his death.
Kabuga’s arrest was the result of a lengthy and meticulously planned operation by international intelligence agencies that had been searching for the fugitive worldwide.
Kabuga was arrested in France in 2020 after more than 20 years in hiding and extradited to The Hague.
Despite initial plans to conduct a full trial, thoroughly examining all available evidence, the proceedings had to be halted due to a sharp deterioration in the defendant’s physical and mental health.
The defendant’s lawyers had long insisted on his release, citing progressive age-related illnesses and his inability to adequately follow the proceedings.
He was later deemed unfit to stand trial due to dementia and was also considered too ill to return to Rwanda.
Since no country was willing to accept him, Kabuga remained in UN custody in The Hague. Until his final day, he was under round-the-clock supervision by the detention center’s medical staff.
This former influential businessman and owner of a popular radio station was among the last fugitives sought in connection with the genocide, during which Hutu extremists killed more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus over the course of 100 days.
Investigators gathered a vast amount of evidence of his personal involvement in coordinating the actions of radical groups.
Prosecutors accused Kabuga of spreading hate speech through his radio station, “Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines,” and of helping to arm Hutu ethnic militias.
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