Rwanda genocide suspect Félicien Kabuga was arrested in Paris for crimes related to the massacre of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in the central African nation in 1994.
Kabuga, a former businessman alleged to have financed the 100-day atrocity, was apprehended after a dawn raid on a suburban apartment where he was living under a false identity, according to a statement on Saturday. The 84-year-old is now expected to stand trial more than two decades after being charged.
“The arrest of one of the most sought-after fugitives in the world concludes a long and meticulous investigation,” French prosecutors said in the statement, citing cooperation with international, Belgian and U.K. Authorities.
Kabuga was indicted by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1997 on seven counts of genocide. He is accused of having created a militia group known to be responsible for deaths and of using his radio station to broadcast calls to murder.
The French say he was actively sought for 25 years by authorities and is believed to have resided in Germany, Belgium, Congo-Kinshasa, Kenya and Switzerland.
“The arrest of Félicien Kabuga today is a reminder that those responsible for genocide can be brought to account, even twenty-six years after their crimes,” said Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.
