Netherlands extradites another Rwanda genocide suspect

KIGALI,Rwanda

The Netherlands has deported Rwanda genocide suspect, Venant Rutunga who had been residing in the European country over the last 27 years, a judicial source revealed in Kigali early this week.

A statement issued by the Rwanda’s National Public Prosecution Authority said the deported suspect was born in 1949 in the former Ruhengeri Prefecture (North).

According to the prosecution, Rutunga during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsis lived in southern Rwanda where he was a senior manager at the Rwandan Institute of Agricultural Sciences (ISAR, French acronym).

In a statement made available to APA, Rwandan judicial authorities commended the Ducth for the extradition of several genocide suspects.

This is the result of a continued cooperation in matters of mutual legal assistance and contribution to the global efforts to fight impunity, it said.

So far The Netherlands has deported two more genocide suspects to Rwanda.

The previous deportations followed a Dutch court’s ruling to deport Jean-Claude Iyamuremye and Jean-Baptiste Mugimba, for genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the genocide.

Mugimba was Secretary General of the Coalition for the Defence of the Republic (CDR), an extremist Hutu political party.

Iyamuremye is suspected of having been the leader of the Interahamwe militia in Kicukiro Sector, a suburb of Kigali.

He is suspected of having been the leader of the Interahamwe militia in Kicukiro Sector and a member of the Mouvement Révolutionnaire National Pour Développement (MRND) held responsible for the genocide.