Share

Former Rwanda rebel group leader accused of war crimes dies

Share

BERLIN (AP) — The former head of a Rwandan rebel group has died in Germany while awaiting retrial on war crimes charges, a court says.

Ignace Murwanashyaka, the former president of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, was convicted by a Stuttgart court in 2015 of leading a terrorist organization and four counts of being an accessory to war crimes in eastern Congo a decade ago. He was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment, but the verdict was overturned last year and a retrial was pending.

The Stuttgart court said on Wednesday that Murwanashyaka’s health deteriorated suddenly on April 11. He was transferred to a hospital, where he later died. The court declined to provide further details, citing patient confidentiality.

The FDLR’s vice president, Straton Musoni, was given an eight-year sentence for his role in the group. That verdict wasn’t overturned.

Murwanashyaka’s lawyers argued during the trial that he had merely been the group’s political figurehead and hadn’t controlled its military wing.

Prosecutors in Germany, where Murwanashyaka had lived since the 1980s, argued he had issued remotely instructions to FDLR members in Congo by phone, text message and email. The group carried out killings in the Congolese villages of Mianga, Busurungi, Chiriba and Manje in 2009.

The rebel group is made up mostly of Hutu refugees from Rwanda who took shelter in neighboring Congo after the 1994 genocide in which over 800,000 people were killed, most of them ethnic Tutsis but also moderate Hutus.

The Western Journal has not reviewed this Associated Press story prior to publication. Therefore, it may contain editorial bias or may in some other way not meet our normal editorial standards. It is provided to our readers as a service from The Western Journal.

Truth and Accuracy

Submit a Correction →



We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:
Share
The Associated Press is an independent, not-for-profit news cooperative headquartered in New York City. Their teams in over 100 countries tell the world’s stories, from breaking news to investigative reporting. They provide content and services to help engage audiences worldwide, working with companies of all types, from broadcasters to brands. Photo credit: @AP on Twitter
The Associated Press was the first private sector organization in the U.S. to operate on a national scale. Over the past 170 years, they have been first to inform the world of many of history's most important moments, from the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the bombing of Pearl Harbor to the fall of the Shah of Iran and the death of Pope John Paul.

Today, they operate in 263 locations in more than 100 countries relaying breaking news, covering war and conflict and producing enterprise reports that tell the world's stories.
Location
New York City




Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.

Conversation