Citation
The United States will on Thursday, October 7, deport Oswald Rurangwa, alias Oswald Rukemuye, a genocide fugitive who was the leader of Interahamwe militia in the Gisozi neighbourhood of Kigali during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
In a statement released Thursday, the National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA), commended the move by US authorities.
“The NPPA commends the US judicial authorities for the deportations of genocide fugitives, continued cooperation in matters of mutual legal assistance, and contribution to the global effort to fight impunity,” read part of a brief statement signed by Faustin Nkusi, the Spokesperson of NPPA.
The statement also indicates that Rurangwa was born in 1962, in Gasharu cell, Gisozi sector, in Kigali.
In mid-2008, the notorious Genocide fugitive – convicted and sentenced in 2007 to 30 years in prison in absentia by a Gacaca court – was sighted in the United States.
During the Genocide, Rurangwa was headmaster of Gisozi primary school.
He also headed the then ruling Mouvement Révolutionaire National pour le Développement (MRND) party in Gisozi.
He was, reportedly, in charge of recruiting and mobilizing Interahamwe militia, and was responsible for the massacre of majority of the more than 250,000 people whose remains are interred at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Gisozi.
The report titled; “Oswald Rurangwa in the US - Turning Gisozi Into A Mass Grave”’- a copy of which The New Times obtained, contains testimonies of 20 eyewitnesses. The latter include Genocide convicts he commanded who linked him to massacres at the Parish of Sainte Famille and at Saint Paul’s Centre in Kigali.
He is said to have set up numerous roadblocks and took part in killings in different parts of Kigali.
Rurangwa featured in the trial of Maj. Gen. Laurent Munyakazi, a former army officer who was sentenced to life by the Military tribunal in a case in which he was jointly accused with Fr Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a Parish Priest of St Famille Church in Kigali, where hundreds of people were killed.
Rurangwa worked closely with the former Mayor of Kigali, Col. Tharcisse Renzaho.
In 2009, Col. Renzaho was convicted and sentenced to life in prison by the now defunct International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for his role in the Genocide.
jkaruhanga@newtimesrwanda.com
