UN court weighs fate of Rwanda genocide financier stranded in limbo

The United Nations mechanism overseeing remaining Rwanda and Balkan war crimes cases held a session Thursday on the fate of Félicien Kabuga, a financier of the 1994 genocide who is about 90 years old and has dementia. Judges halted his trial in 2023 after medical experts concluded he could not participate. He remains in legal limbo two years after an expedited release was ordered, with no country willing to take him in. Kabuga does not want to return to Rwanda, which has offered to accept him, out of fear that he would face mistreatment. The transfer to Rwanda is not possible, according to the court.

At the hearing Kabuga defense lawyer Emmanuel Altit argued that sending him to Rwanda would expose him to imprisonment or disappearance. Altit said Rwanda is not a democratic country. Judge Iain Bonomy noted that the expedited release has been hamstrung by unwillingness of several European states to take him in. Kabuga was arrested near Paris in May 2020, and his trial began decades after the 1994 genocide. Prosecutors have charged him with genocide and incitement to commit genocide, and Kabuga has maintained a not guilty plea.

Beyond Kabuga, other cases show a broader problem of posttrial limbo. A former Central African Republic government minister spent 43 days in a hotel at the ICC after prosecutors dropped about 20 charges, and he eventually sought asylum in an undisclosed country. Ivorian political leader Charles Blé Goudé, who was acquitted by the ICC in 2019, remained confined to a closed location at the court at high cost until 2022, when a change in his homeland political climate allowed him to return.

Five Rwandan men have been stuck in Niger since 2021 after their transfer from the court. An arrangement between Niger and Tanzania led to the transfer of eight men — all acquitted or having finished their sentences — to a house in Niamey. Three have died. Niger will not grant legal status to the remaining men, leaving them unable to work, travel or leave the house without a police escort. Peter Robinson, who represents François-Xavier Nzuwonemeye, said there are no viable options. A University of Amsterdam researcher, Lucy Gaynor, noted that there is little room for these courts to release people without the cooperation of states that do not want to cooperate.

Rights groups and others say Rwanda's leadership has created a climate of fear for opponents. Courts in Germany and the Netherlands have refused to extradite genocide suspects to Rwanda over concerns that suspects would not receive a fair trial.

Taken together, the cases illustrate the limits of international justice when states do not cooperate, leaving individuals in prolonged legal limbo while prosecutions and reconciliations move at different paces.