The recent arrest of Fulgence Kayishema in South Africa’s Western Cape has caused confusion and controversy amongst his family and friends. Despite being charged by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 2001, Kayishema had evaded authorities for over twenty years until his recent arrest in Paarl.
Fulgence Kayishema, a former Rwandan police inspector, was apprehended on a grape farm in Paarl after being on the run for 22 years for his role in the 1994 Rwanda genocide. The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (MICT) charged him with genocide, complicity and conspiracy to commit genocide, and crimes against humanity.
After evading arrest for more than two decades, Fulgence Kayishema, one of the world’s most wanted genocide fugitives, was arrested in Paarl, Western Cape, on 24 May. This has been a significant victory for international justice as Kayishema allegedly played a key role in orchestrating the murder of approximately 2,000 Tutsis during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.