UK- Three suspects of the 1994 Genocide appeal to court

The pastor of a Pentecostal church in Kent led an armed militia Hutu who hacked their Tutsis to death and gouged out their eyes during the Rwandan genocide, a court heard today.

Celestin Mutabaruka, who was arrested in Kent in 2013, is one of five men who have been living freely in Britain for more than a decade who are now facing extradition at Westminster Magistrates Court for taking part in the genocide that left more than 800,000 dead in just 100 days.

He is accused of leading a Hutu militia who armed themselves with spears and machetes to massacre the Tutsis.

Dr Vincent Brown, from north London, Charles Munyaneza, from Bedford, Celestin Ugirashebuja from Essex, Emmanuel Nteziryayo, of Manchester, and Mutabaruka, of Kent, are all wanted in connection with the 1994 atrocities.

They deny involvement and say they would not receive a fair trial if they were forced to return to Rwanda.

Brown, Munyaneza, Ugirashebuja and Nteziryayo won a High Court battle in 2008 against being sent back to Rwanda after senior judges ruled that there was “a real risk” they would suffer “a flagrant denial of justice.”

It was the first time an English court has ever blocked an extradition request from a foreign government on the grounds that it would violate Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which safeguards the right to a fair trial.

But the men, who have been living freely in Britain since at least the early 2000 , were detained last year by officers from Scotland Yard’s specialist extradition unit following a fresh application by the Rwandan authorities.

They all appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court today to fight extradition on charges of killing, or conspiring with or aiding and abetting others, to kill Tutsis.

The court heard how laws in Rwanda have since been amended – meaning that an original problem for the High Court judges of the men being kept in solitary confinement while in prison has been abolished.

The court was also told how Mutabaruka “hated” Tutsis when he was living in Rwanda and helped in the massacre of thousands of refugees in April 1994.

James Lewis QC, representing Rwanda, read witness statements to the court from survivors of the slaying at a parish church – where the militia led by Mutabaruka allegedly used spears and machetes to cleave refugees apart and gouged their eyes out.

“We were not afraid of the gun shots because we would rather be killed by guns than machetes,” one statement said.

Another said: “A hospital received injured Tutsis – they continued to come in big numbers which amounted to 20,000 in the end.

“Around 15,000 were massacred there. Those who survived fled, I fled to the Congo in 1994.

“During the genocide I saw Mutabaruka in attacks that killed the Tutsi … I saw Mutabaruka shooting the Tutsi.

“We all shouted ‘Mutabaruka is here to kill us, he has killed so many already … he has come back to kill us here.’

“In May, he was the first to fire at refugees and encouraged the other militia to kill.”

The court also heard statements from militia who teamed up with Mutabaruka and his men to slaughter the Tutsi.

Describing an attack, one said: “We immediately killed the Tutsi using machetes and brought them to the side of the road.

“Mutabaruka asked if we had finished killing them and went to see the bodies in the ditch.”

At the April attack on the church, Mutabaruka allegedly instructed the militia to surround the walls so the Tutsi could not escape and helped kill 20,000 refugees.

Munyaneza, Ugirashebuja and Nteziryayo were said to be mayors of local communes who allegedly organised killings in their areas while Dr Brown was allegedly a militia organiser in Kigali.

At an extradition hearing in 2007, a court heard allegations that Dr Brown, had been part of the “inner circle” of then Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana.

After the president died in 1994 Dr Brown was claimed to have attended key “genocide meetings” where plans to murder hundreds of thousands of Tutsis were planned.

The court was told he then went on to become a leader in the Interahamwe militia, which was to spearhead the slaughter.

In court papers alleged he ordered the militia to cut a Tutsi “into pieces so that he would not recover.”

The case continues.

The Telegraph

UM– USEKE.RW