Germans Catch Rwandan Genocide Suspect

One who was featured in our photo gallery here, actually: Callixte Mbarushimana had been sought by INTERPOL in connection with allegations of genocide, murder, extermination and creation of a criminal organization. Mbarushimana was a United Nations Development Programme official at the time of the 1994, and is accused of becoming a militia chief, killing fellow U.N. workers who were Tutsi, and offering U.N. assistance including the use of vehicles and fuel to Hutu killing mobs. Mbarushimana has claimed innocence and sued the U.N. for back wages.

More from the INTERPOL press release:

"On 25 June 2008, as part of INTERPOL’s Rwandan Genocide Fugitives Project, the General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, France circulated a list detailing the fugitives wanted by NCB Kigali in connection with the Rwandan genocide to all 186 INTERPOL member countries.

Mbarushimana, who was on the list, was arrested by German police on 7 July as he was departing Frankfurt for St Petersburg, following close co-operation between the INTERPOL NCBs in Wiesbaden and Kigali, the German central war crimes unit, the tracking unit of the Rwandan General Prosecutor’s Office together with the Fugitive Investigative Service and Notices units at the INTERPOL General Secretariat.

'This arrest clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of inter agency and cross border co-operation and is a credit to all law enforcement officers and agencies involved,' said INTERPOL’s Executive Director of Police Services Jean-Michel Louboutin."

The governments of Rwanda and Germany were in talks this week to discuss the extradition of Mbarushimana.

(Photo: INTERPOL)