Rwanda’s most-wanted genocide suspect pleads not guilty to charges

Rwanda’s most-wanted genocide suspect, Felicien Kabuga, the alleged financier of the 1994 genocide in the country has pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against him for crimes against humanity.

The 84-year-old who made his first appearance at a United Nations court in The Hague on Wednesday is accused of funding militias and helping set up a media group which urged ethnic Hutus to kill Tutsis.

During proceedings, Kabuga who was once one of Rwanda’s richest men pleaded not guilty to seven counts, including genocide, incitement to genocide, extermination and persecution.

According to reports, the court in The Hague will decide at a later date whether Mr Kabuga is well enough to be transferred to the main UN facility in Arusha, Tanzania.

Kabuga, who was arrested in March 2020 while living under a false identity in a flat outside Paris, France after 25 years of being on the run, has declared that the accusations against him are “lies”.

Kabuga is alleged to have been one of the main financiers of ethnic Hutu extremists who killed 800,000 people. They were targeting members of the minority Tutsi community, as well as their political opponents.