{"id":18158,"date":"2026-05-16T06:50:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T13:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=18158"},"modified":"2026-05-18T06:55:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:55:54","slug":"felicien-kabuga-dies-accused-of-masterminding-rwandas-genocide-the-new-york-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=18158","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;F\u00e9licien Kabuga Dies; Accused of Masterminding Rwanda\u2019s Genocide&#8221;, The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/planetearthfdn.org\/news\">Back to News<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"article-summary\">One of his country\u2019s richest businessmen, he fled arrest and escaped prosecution for allegedly financing and directing the bloodletting that cost 800,000 lives in 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/05\/16\/multimedia\/16kabuga-ftwv\/16kabuga-ftwv-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale\" alt=\"A man in a dark suit wears headphones and sits in a wheelchair.\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A screen grab of F\u00e9licien Kabuga at a hearing in The Hague, where he faced charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, in 2022.Credit&#8230;Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>By&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/alan-cowell\">Alan Cowell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>May 16, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>F\u00e9licien Kabuga, who was accused of being a mastermind of Rwanda\u2019s genocide and spent 26 years on the run protected by his wealth and wiliness, and who escaped prosecution after a United Nations war-crimes tribunal ruled him unfit to stand trial because of dementia, died on Saturday in The Hague. He was 91 or 93, based on various accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His death, in a hospital, was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irmct.org\/en\/news\/statement-passing-felicien-kabuga\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">announced<\/a>&nbsp;by the United Nations. He was arrested in France in 2020 and, while he never was held to account for the crimes he was said to have committed, he remained in U.N. custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A trader and entrepreneur who became one of Rwanda\u2019s richest citizens, Mr. Kabuga was accused by international prosecutors of using his fortune to finance and direct the explosion of bloodletting that claimed upward of 800,000 lives in 100 days of mayhem in 1994.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The killings initiated a chain of conflicts that claimed some two million lives in Africa\u2019s Great Lakes region and persisted well into the 21st century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/05\/16\/multimedia\/16kabuga-hlzq\/16kabuga-hlzq-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mr. Kabuga was accused by international prosecutors of using his fortune to finance and direct the explosion of bloodletting that claimed upward of 800,000 lives in 100 days of mayhem in 1994.Credit&#8230;Pascal Guyot\/Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr. Kabuga was said to have sponsored inflammatory broadcasts on his own radio station, inciting his compatriots to slaughter their adversaries \u2014 principally members of the Tutsi minority \u2014 and to have financed the supply of weapons, including guns and machetes, used by militias and civilians from the Hutu majority to beat, stab and shoot their victims to death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the defeat of those militias by Tutsi insurgents, Mr. Kabuga was said by prosecutors to have embarked on a pimpernel existence. He fled first to Switzerland, where he was refused asylum, and was subsequently sighted \u2014 or said to have been sighted \u2014 in Oslo and Nairobi, Kenya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He was in his 80s when, in May 2020, he was finally detained in a well-heeled suburb of Paris. At the time, Rwanda\u2019s justice minister, Johnston Busingye, declared: \u201cYou can run, but you cannot hide. It can\u2019t be forever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The warrant for his arrest was issued in 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/05\/16\/multimedia\/16kabuga-hzmk\/16kabuga-hzmk-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale\" alt=\"Three men, two with weapons, patrol outside a parked white van.\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Mr. Kabuga, one of the last key fugitives wanted over the 1994 Rwandan genocide, was apprehended in Paris in 2020.Credit&#8230;Philippe Lopez\/Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>His capture in Asni\u00e8res-sur-Seine followed a protracted hunt by French police officers with the cooperation of Belgian and British police forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The charge sheet included genocide, incitement to genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide and three counts of crimes against humanity relating to political persecution, extermination and murder. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When he was finally arrested, surrounded by family members at 7 a.m. in a rented home, prosecutors depicted the event as a potential milestone in the effort to bring long-sought, high-profile fugitives to international justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His apprehension was the weightiest since the seizure in 2011 of Gen. Ratko Mladic, a Serbian military leader subsequently found guilty of committing genocide in the Bosnian war of the 1990s. The United States had circulated wanted posters depicting Mr. Kabuga in Nairobi and had offered a reward of $5 million for his capture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For victims and survivors of the genocide,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/05\/16\/world\/europe\/france-rwanda-genocide-kabuga.html\">said Serge Brammertz<\/a>, the chief prosecutor of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, \u201cafter waiting so many years, his arrest is an important step toward justice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2026\/05\/16\/multimedia\/16kabuga-vhzm\/16kabuga-vhzm-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;disable=upscale\" alt=\"A woman touches a photo of family members, while other photos hang nearby.\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Visitors looked at portraits of victims of the genocide at the Kigali Genocide Memorial in Rwanda in 2018.Credit&#8230;Yasuyoshi Chiba\/Agence France-Presse \u2014 Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>When he went on trial in late 2020, Mr. Kabuga initially refused to attend the tribunal\u2019s hearings in The Hague. At first, the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irmct.org\/en\/cases\/mict-13-38\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">tribunal said<\/a>&nbsp;he was fit to stand trial, although he \u201csuffers from cognitive impairment, is in a vulnerable and fragile state and requires intensive medical care and monitoring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, in June 2023, the court determined by a 2-to-1 majority of judges that \u201con the basis of the unanimous opinion of three medical experts, Mr. Kabuga was not fit for trial and was very unlikely to regain fitness,\u201d according to an official summary of the case. The finding was challenged by Judge&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irmct.org\/en\/about\/judges\/judge-mustapha-el-baaj\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mustapha El Baaj<\/a>&nbsp;of Morocco, who argued that Mr. Kabuga was fit to stand trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the same time, the court ruled that some kind of arrangement should be devised to provide for a limited legal process without a verdict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The case dragged on with Mr. Kabuga\u2019s attorneys urging appeals judges that he should be provisionally released, but a group representing survivors said that would set a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.voanews.com\/a\/rwanda-genocide-victims-slam-kabuga-release-ruling-\/7216468.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cdeplorable precedent.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The only state offering him sanctuary was Rwanda itself, and Mr. Kabuga\u2019s attorneys said he refused to be sent there. According to rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, his native land has a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrw.org\/world-report\/2026\/country-chapters\/rwanda\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">record of increasingly autocratic rule<\/a>&nbsp;under President Paul Kagame, who led the victorious insurgent forces that ended the genocide in 1994 and has dominated the country since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tribunal, by now reduced to a smaller successor court known as a so-called \u201cmechanism,\u201d&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.irmct.org\/sites\/default\/files\/case_documents\/MOT11030R0000665163.pdf\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">found<\/a>&nbsp;in September 2025 that \u201cif Kabuga is ever to be released from detention, it will only be to Rwanda.\u201d The prosecution urged that the tribunal make a ruling on his deportation from The Hague to Kigali, the Rwandan capital, but the judges ruled that he was unfit to travel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cKabuga remains in limbo, while complaining that his continuing detention violates his most fundamental rights,\u201d the tribunal said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>F\u00e9licien Kabuga, an ethnic Hutu, was born into a farming family in northern Rwanda. Early on, he proved himself adept in the world of business. He traded used clothes and cigarettes before purchasing land on which he built the first of several tea plantations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He and his wife, Josephine Mukazitoni, who reportedly\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.france24.com\/en\/20200603-how-rwanda-genocide-suspect-spent-25-years-on-the-run\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">died<\/a>\u00a0in Belgium in 2017, were said to have had at least 11 children, some of whom married into the family of Juv\u00e9nal Habyarimana, a former Rwandan president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The year of Mr. Kabuga\u2019s birth was disputed. Some sources claim March 1, 1933, but the court listed it as 1935. Coincidentally, 1935 was also the year Belgian colonial rulers introduced a system of identity cards that cemented ethnic distinctions between Hutus and Tutsis. Rwanda gained independence in 1962.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr. Habyarimana died when his plane was shot down in 1994 \u2014 an event that ostensibly triggered the genocide. At the time, Mr. Kabuga was a founder of a widely followed radio station called Radio T\u00e9l\u00e9vision Libre des Mille Collines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tribunal said the station \u201cdirectly and publicly\u201d incited genocide through \u201cdenigrating broadcasts\u201d for months before the killing started. Prosecutors said the station even directed murderous gangs to places where ethnic Tutsis were concentrated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition, Mr. Kabuga was accused of supporting Hutu militias with \u201cmaterial, logistical, financial and moral support,\u201d including the supply of weapons and ammunition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stephen Rapp, a former chief prosecutor at the tribunal, said Mr. Kabuga used assumed names and a variety of passports to elude his pursuers. He also cultivated high-level connections to shield his whereabouts and paid at least one police officer in Kenya who enabled his escape by alerting him to an imminent arrest. Kenyan authorities denied accusations that they had been lax in the search for Mr. Kabuga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While Mr. Kabuga was on the run, the tribunal froze a number of his bank accounts in Belgium and France, prompting Mr. Kabuga to argue that he was penniless and could not afford his own legal fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was unclear when he arrived in France, but investigators said he was located through phone calls made by family members who visited with him. Once Mr. Kabuga had been arrested, the French authorities transferred him to the U.N. Rwanda tribunal at The Hague in October 2020, amid the Covid pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The initial plan had been to send him for trial to a branch of the tribunal\u2019s successor court in Arusha, Tanzania. But shortly after his arrest, that plan changed to provide for medical assessments of whether his health would permit him to be transferred safely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The case was among the last heard by the U.N. tribunal and its successor. Over the years, the tribunal tried almost 80 cases. Thousands more were prosecuted in Rwandan courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of the U.N. investigations drew controversy because critics said they ignored excesses committed by Mr. Kagame\u2019s insurgents. The earlier trials also sought to throw light on the question of accountability beyond the actions of physical perpetrators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe power of the media to create and destroy human values comes with great responsibility,\u201d the tribunal said in a summary of an earlier judgment of media figures in 2003. \u201cThose who control the media are accountable for its consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/by\/alan-cowell\">Alan Cowell<\/a>&nbsp;had a long career as a foreign correspondent for The Times based in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>See more on:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/topic\/international-criminal-tribunal-for-rwanda\">International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Back to News One of his country\u2019s richest businessmen, he fled arrest and escaped prosecution for allegedly financing and directing the bloodletting that cost 800,000 lives in 1994. By&nbsp;Alan Cowell May 16, 2026 F\u00e9licien Kabuga, who was accused of being a mastermind of Rwanda\u2019s genocide and spent 26 years on the run protected by his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18158"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18158"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18161,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18158\/revisions\/18161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}