The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) welcomes the action brought today by the German Federal Public Prosecutor's Office against a former mayor from Rwanda who is suspected of genocide. "The instigation of criminal proceedings against this presumed mass murderer makes Germany's commitment to democracy and human rights more credible," declared Ulrich Delius, head of the Africa section at the STP in Göttingen, Germany. "Those who have accused Rwandan president Paul Kagame of committing human rights abuses and applying coercion in covering up the 1994 genocide have an obligation to take decisive action against all those responsible for the genocide."

Onesphore Rwabukombe, former mayor of Muvumba commune in northern Rwanda, is accused of having called for massacres of Tutsis and moderate Hutus three times during the 1994 genocide, resulting in the deaths of at least 3730 people. The accused was arrested for the second time on July 26, 2010, near Frankfurt in Germany.

The 53-year-old had been sought by Interpol since 2007, and was arrested once before in Germany on December 22, 2008. The first arrest warrant, however, was set aside by the Federal Supreme Court on May 14, 2009, due to insufficient witness statements. In total, around one million Tutsis und moderate Hutus were murdered in the Rwandan genocide.

Translation: Elizabeth Crawford