24.09.14 - SWEDEN/RWANDA – TWO RWANDAN GENOCIDE SUSPECTS ARRESTED IN SWEDEN

Arusha, September, 2014 (FH) – Two men of Rwandan origin have been arrested in Sweden on suspicion of involvement in the 1994 genocide, Hirondelle learned on Wednesday.

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One man has obtained Swedish nationality, while the other is residing legally in the country, AFP reported, but did not give their identity.

In June, a Swedish appeals court confirmed the country’s first ever genocide conviction against a naturalized Swede of Rwandan origin.

Stanislas Mbanenande, 55, was found guilty of playing a “low level command role” in five massacres in western Rwanda. Witnesses had accused him of acting as head of an armed militia group. Mbanenande, an engineer and school teacher, pleaded not-guilty.

Several Rwandans have been convicted in Belgium, Canada, Finland and Norway for participating in the genocide.

A larger number have been convicted by the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania. The ICTR is due to close its doors by the end of this year.

ER/JC