The judges at the United Nations war crimes court in The Hague have concluded that Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga is mentally incompetent to stand trial. According to authorities, Kabuga is 88 years old, although he claims to be 90. He used a fictitious name to elude detection for decades. In May of 2020, he was arrested in his Paris flat and deported to The Hague, where he pled not guilty. He was put on trial in September of last year, but he never showed up, either in person or by video conference. From the jail center, he has watched the proceedings through video connection. In March, the court postponed the trial due to health concerns. In a ruling released on Wednesday, the court stated, “The trial chamber finds Mr. Kabuga is no longer capable of meaningful participation in his trial.”
Conspiracy to commit genocide charges
One of the final people wanted by the tribunal pursuing crimes committed during the 1994 genocide, in which Hutu extremists massacred over 800,000 Tutsis and Hutu moderates in 100 days, is a former businessman who built his money in the tea trade. His radio station, Radio Television Libre des Milles Collines (RTLM), is under investigation for allegedly inciting the transmission of hate speech and funding Hutu militias.
In his opening speech in September 2022, UN prosecutor Rashid Rashid said that Kabuga built a radio station that “broadcast genocidal propaganda across Rwanda” and that Kabuga himself did not need to pick up a microphone to call for the massacre of Tutsis. The prosecution claimed that the genocide allegations included not just murder but also rape and sexual abuse. According to RTLM broadcasts, Hutus were urged to “taste” Tutsi women.
In addition, he was blamed for providing machetes to Hutu killing squads. However, Kabuga has refuted these claims. ‘Alternative’ methods are being pursued by judges. On Wednesday, the judges said that they would not be stopping the trial and instead would institute a “alternative finding procedure that resembles a trial as closely as possible, but without the possibility of a conviction.” Sixty-two accused in the Rwandan genocide have been found guilty by the trial.
