Portrait of Félicien Kabuga, alleged financier of the Rwandan genocide, in court on May 20, 2020, in Paris. - Benoit PEYRUCQ / AFP

The alleged financier of the Rwandan genocide Félicien Kabuga, recently arrested in France after 25 years on the run, will have to be transferred to Arusha when the conditions are met, said a judge of the Mechanism of International Criminal Courts (MTPI) in The Hague on Thursday.

"The rule indicates that the accused indicted by the ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda), such as Mr. Kabuga, are transferred and detained at the Arusha branch (in Tanzania) and that procedures are conducted there" , said Judge William Sekule.

No transfer to The Hague

The judge responded to a request from the MTPI prosecutor who wanted the temporary transfer of Félicien Kabuga to The Hague given the travel restrictions put in place because of the Covid-19 pandemic. "I reject" this "request," said the magistrate.

Félicien Kabuga, 84 years old according to the arrest warrant, 87 years old according to him, is indicted by the MTPI for, in particular, "genocide", "direct and public incitement to commit genocide" and "crimes against l 'humanity (persecution and extermination)'. He is notably accused of having created the Interahamwe militias, the main armed arms of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda which killed 800,000 people, the majority of them Tutsi.

Kabuga asks to be tried in France

Arrested on May 16 in the Paris suburbs, Félicien Kabuga said he wanted "to be tried in France", and his lawyers fought Wednesday before the Paris Court of Appeal to try to oppose the surrender to international justice of the octogenarian.

The investigating chamber, which must examine the validity of the arrest warrant, announced that it would make its decision on June 3, the next step before a final possible appeal to the Court of Cassation and then possible delivery to the MTPI.

The MPTI is responsible for completing the work of the Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) based in Arusha and the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), based in The Hague. The current MTPI arrest warrant provides for the transfer of Félicien Kabuga to Arusha.

Reach the end of Covid-19 restrictions

A modification of the arrest warrant can only be made in "exceptional" cases, and in this case, it is possible to wait until the restrictions due to the epidemic are lifted in France and Tanzania before carrying out the transfer of Félicien Kabuga, said judge Sekule of the MTPI branch in Arusha.

"If the transfer to the Arusha branch is not possible at the appropriate time, an appropriate alternative may be sought," he said in a judgment made public by the MTPI.

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