Rwanda Issues Arrest Warrant for Genocide Suspect in France: Prosecutor

Skulls of victims at Rwanda's genocide memorial in Kigali. Around 800,000 people were murdered over three months in 1994 | AFP
Skulls of victims at Rwanda's genocide memorial in Kigali. Around 800,000 people were murdered over three months in 1994 | AFP
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Rwanda Issues Arrest Warrant for Genocide Suspect in France: Prosecutor

Skulls of victims at Rwanda's genocide memorial in Kigali. Around 800,000 people were murdered over three months in 1994 | AFP
Skulls of victims at Rwanda's genocide memorial in Kigali. Around 800,000 people were murdered over three months in 1994 | AFP

Rwanda has issued an international arrest warrant for a top former Rwandan military official, Aloys Ntiwiragabo, who is under investigation in France over his role in the country's 1994 genocide which claimed 800,000 lives.

"We have issued an international arrest warrant against Aloys Ntiwiragabo, the genocide suspect. We have investigated his case and we are working with the French unit in charge of combating war crimes and crimes against humanity," prosecutor-general Aimable Havugiyaremye told a press conference on Tuesday.

France opened a probe into alleged crimes against humanity by Ntiwiragabo after he was found in the suburbs of the city of Orleans, about 100 kilometers south-west of Paris.

French investigative news site Mediapart tracked down the former Rwandan spy chief, who had been identified by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) as one of the architects of the genocide.

Neither the ICTR, Interpol, France nor Rwanda were actively seeking him now and had dropped arrest warrants years ago.

The revelation of his whereabouts came barely two months after another suspected genocide architect, Felicien Kabuga, was arrested on the fringes of Paris.

Kabuga, who evaded police in several countries for 25 years, is accused of financing the genocide.

Kabuga had asked for a trial in France, citing frail health and claiming the UN court in Africa would be biased against him, and possibly hand him over to Rwandan authorities.

A team of prosecutors and investigators from the international tribunal handling Rwanda genocide matters arrived in Kigali Tuesday for a two-week visit to investigate and gather evidence on Kabuga and other genocide suspects at large.

France has long been known as a hiding place for wanted genocide suspects and French investigators currently have dozens of cases underway.

A plane carrying President Juvenal Habyarimana, from Rwanda's Hutu majority, was shot down in Kigali on April 6, 1994, unleashing the killing spree that would leave mainly Tutsis but also moderate Hutus dead.



Vance Criticizes Germany’s Free Speech Laws in Remarks to Conservatives

 Vice President JD Vance, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2025, at the National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Md., Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP)
Vice President JD Vance, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2025, at the National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Md., Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP)
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Vance Criticizes Germany’s Free Speech Laws in Remarks to Conservatives

 Vice President JD Vance, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2025, at the National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Md., Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP)
Vice President JD Vance, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2025, at the National Harbor, in Oxon Hill, Md., Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP)

US Vice President JD Vance has criticized Germany's free speech laws during an appearance at a conservative gathering outside Washington, linking the country's limits against hate speech to American troops stationed there.

German law sets restrictions on free speech, including the long-standing ban on Holocaust denial and any glorification of the country's Nazi past.

The limits are an effort to curb extremism and incitement, and have led to authorities policing the internet for hate speech and arresting the people allegedly posting, and reposting, such comments.

“There are thousands upon thousands of American troops in Germany today. Do you think that the American taxpayer is going to stand for that, if you get thrown in jail in Germany for posting a mean tweet? Of course they’re not,” Vance told activists gathered Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

There are nearly 84,000 US service members in the European Theater, according to the US Department of Defense. The figure fluctuates, however, and has increased since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war on Feb. 24, 2022.

The US military is stationed throughout Germany, according to US European Command, including at Ramstein Air Base. A count of US service members in Germany wasn't immediately available on Friday.

Vance's remarks followed his speech earlier this month at the Munich Security Conference, where he lectured European leaders about the state of democracy and free speech across the continent. His comments were met with rebukes from multiple European leaders, including German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

“Obviously we’re going to continue to have important alliances with Europe,” Vance told CPAC moderator Mercedes Schlapp. “But I really do think the strength of those alliances is doing to depend on whether we take our societies in the right direction.”

Vance then claimed that “Germany’s entire defense is subsidized by the American taxpayers.”