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KIGALI - A week after Prosecution revealed that it would soon issue a warrant of arrest for a top Genocide fugitive in the Netherlands - ex-FAR Maj. Pierre-Claver Karangwa - three other alleged Genocide suspects are confirmed to be living in the same country.
They were identified as Charles Ndereyehe Ntahontuye, the former Director General of ISAR-Rubona, an agricultural institute, Venant Rutunga, a former regional director of ISAR and Jean Baptiste Nyabusore an influential figure in the Northern Province during the Genocide.
Nyabusore was the Director of another agricultural institute, ISAE-Busogo.
Speaking particularly about Ntahuntuye, Prosecution spokesperson Augustin Nkusi, noted that the fugitive was ‘very active’ in the Genocide especially in the then Butare, now Huye District.
“If you consider everything, the money, and how it was raised by Ntahontuye, he was very committed in the plan to wipe out the Tutsi…he worked with soldiers in Butare, compiled lists of Tutsi to be killed. He was very involved in the Genocide as an organizer.”
Sources say that during the Genocide, Ntahontuye, 61, in collaboration with others, among them Rutunga, are alleged to have been at the forefront of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rubona.
It is claimed that Ntahontuye, as ISAR boss, forcefully instructed all employees (starting from May, 1994) to always contribute 20 percent of their salary into a fund then called their “auto-defense civile,” which was money meant to motivate the soldiers and militias to kill.
The ISAR group allegedly used the funds to provide soldiers and Interahamwe militia with equipment including machetes worth one million francs.
“Even after deducting this amount (20%) he continued retaining whole salaries of Tutsi employees at the institute who had already been killed in the genocide,” Nkusi explained.
Ntahontuye’s charges range from conspiracy to commit Genocide to public incitement and crimes against humanity.
It is said that Ntahontuye and Rutunga used their authority, influence as well as ISAR resources to communicate with other institutions, including the Gendarmerie of Butare, as they allegedly shared a common goal – killing all Tutsi.
Rutunga is currently believed to be working as a guest researcher at the Netherlands’s Wageningen University and Research Centre – ISRIC.
Nyabusore is accused of having been an influential figure in Busogo-Mukingo Commune.
He Nyabusore allegedly financed and supported the establishment of a militia group in Busogo called “Virunga Force Amahindura” and he allegedly hosted regular meetings at his home and ISAE offices, in which plans to kill the Tutsi were hatched.
Prominent figures who attended include Esdras Baheza a businessman, Colonel Ephrem Setako, currently sentenced to 25 years in Arusha, Gen. Augustin Bizimungu, also detained in Arusha, Joseph Nzirorera, a former minister and many others.
Nyabusore is alleged to have played a big role in the killings of the Tutsi in places like Busogo, Rwinzovu, Shingiro, Karera and Nyabirehe.
Sources say he probably lives in the Dutch city of Eindhoven. Over 10 other Genocidaires are said to be holed up in the Netherlands.
Dutch judges and prosecutors have visited Rwanda, following up on Genocide fugitives in their country and, some progress has been registered.
A case in hand is that of Joseph Mpambara, who was in March 2009 convicted of torture and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment by Dutch courts.
