The court will not sentence an accomplice to the Rwandan genocide

A court in The Hague has refused to indict Felicien Kabuga, the founder and main sponsor of the Rwandan "Radio of a Thousand Hills", who is accused of genocide and crimes against humanity. We are talking about the events of 1994, when almost a million people were killed in Rwanda in a few months.

The reason for this decision is dementia, which 89-year-old Kabuga suffers from. Doctors came to the conclusion that he could no longer not only participate in the process, but in general, "take care of himself."

Now the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IMUT) will hold sessions that will be as similar as possible to a real trial, but with one significant difference - without a verdict. During the trial, Kabuga will remain in custody.

In 1994, Kabuga was one of the richest people in Rwanda, as well as a close associate of the country's president, Juvénal Habyarimana. It was his death that later became the reason for the start of the genocide.

Kabugu is accused of founding a radio station and sponsoring "Free Radio and Television of a Thousand Hills". Radio employees were exclusively representatives of the Hutu ethnic group, and the information policy consisted in inciting hatred towards representatives of the Tutsi tribe. On the air there were calls to exterminate them, and their names and even addresses were reported.

In addition, Kabugu is accused of arming the Interahamwe, a militia that hunted down and killed Tutsi men, women and children. According to the prosecution, in just 100 days, about 800 thousand people were killed.

They searched for kabuga for 23 years. He was arrested in 2020, and in October 2022 he appeared in court for the first time.

To get top news faster, subscribe to our telegram and twitter .