3 Arrested in Belgium, Suspected of Involvement in 1994 Rwanda Genocide

Belgium has arrested and charged three men suspected of involvement in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.A spokesperson for the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement Saturday that the three had been “charged with serious human rights abuses.”Eric Van Duyse said two had been arrested Tuesday in Brussels and the third had been arrested Wednesday in Hainault province.Van Duyse did not give any details about the suspects but said that their identities had been verified with the help of testimony from witnesses in Rwanda.He said one of the men is under electronic surveillance and the other two are in detention.Van Duyse said whether the men will be tried will depend on information compiled by the investigating magistrate and the prosecutor’s office.The arrests were first reported Friday by the Belgian weekly magazine Le Vif.About 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, were killed in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.The U.N.’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda indicted more than 90 people and tried 80 of them before it ceased operation in 2015.Since 2001, Belgium has held five trials for Rwandans implicated in the killings, giving prison terms up to 20 years.A Belgian court found former senior Rwandan official Fabien Neretse guilty of genocide in December and sentenced him to 25 years in prison.
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