A dozen Rwandans living in Paris are being investigated for their presumed roles in the 1994 massacre. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
MONTREAL - FIFTEEN years after the Rwandan genocide, which saw the massacre of some 800,000 people, prosecutors say hundreds of suspected perpetrators are still at large.
They include many of those on the wanted list of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), presumed to be living under false identities in Belgium, Canada, France, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) experts say.
Some are out in the open claiming political refugee status, as they are eyed with suspicion by families of the victims.
After the massacre of the Tutsi minority many Hutu militants fled the troops of Rwandan President Paul Kagame to neighbouring DRC, still holding on to their weapons.
Some, like Felicien Kabuga, who allegedly bankrolled the 1994 massacre, stayed in Africa, in places Kenya, which according to the ICTR refuses to apprehend him.
But others chose to leave Africa's Great Lakes region and are now living in exile in North America and Europe, especially in Belgium and Canada where hundreds reside, according to Rwandan prosecutors.
But some alleged criminals are being brought to justice. In France, relatives of genocide victims filed a lawsuit a year ago against Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of president Juvenal Habyarimana, who died when his plane was shot down on April 6, 1994.
A dozen Rwandans living in Paris are being investigated for their presumed roles in the 1994 massacre.
France has refused to extradite three of them to Kigali because they believe the Rwandan courts that convicted them failed to meet international standards.
Canada's Supreme Court cited the same motive when it turned down Rwanda's extradition request for Leon Mugesera, the reputed mastermind of the genocide. According to survivors' groups Canada has become a key destination of former Rwandan rebels, hosting some 800 suspected militants.
In 2007, Kigali filed an extradition request for five men, but Canada has not responded. Despite the slow pace of justice, Provost said he sees the 'start of an international culture of criminal justice.' The trials of Rwandan murder suspects will encourage 'countries to see the arrest and prosecution of people who have committed genocide as an obligation.' -- AFP
