The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals based in The Hague has determined that 90-year-old Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga is unfit to stand trial.
The court has suggested an alternative legal procedure that would not result in a conviction for Kabuga.
The order, issued by the judges on Tuesday, states that Kabuga is currently unable to meaningfully participate in his trial and is unlikely to regain fitness in the future. In light of this, the court intends to adopt a finding procedure that closely resembles a trial but without the possibility of a conviction. The judges aim to ensure respect for Kabuga’s rights while still achieving the objectives of the court. It is worth noting that one judge expressed a dissenting opinion on this matter.
Kabuga’s trial commenced in September of the previous year, during which prosecutors accused him of establishing hate media outlets that incited ethnic Hutus to carry out violence against Tutsis. Additionally, he was charged with supplying machetes to death squads involved in the genocide. However, Kabuga has consistently refused to appear in court and has followed the proceedings via video-link from a wheelchair at the court’s detention center.
Concerns regarding Kabuga’s health led the court to suspend the trial in March. He was arrested in Paris in 2020 after evading capture for several decades and was subsequently transferred to The Hague for trial. Kabuga has pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him, denying any involvement in the infamous Hutu radical radio station that propagated the killing of Tutsis and rejecting allegations of supporting the Interahamwe Hutu militia, notorious for their role in the 1994 genocide, which claimed the lives of approximately 800,000 people.
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Felicien Kabuga represents one of the few remaining Rwandan genocide suspects awaiting justice. To date, the tribunal has convicted 62 individuals in connection with the genocide. Another suspect, Fulgence Kayishema, recently appeared before a court in Cape Town, South Africa, following his arrest after eluding capture for 22 years.
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