08.07.09 - RWANDA/FRANCE - RWANDAN GENOCIDE SUSPECT TRANSFERED FROM MAYOTTE TO REUNION

8 July 2009 By

Arusha, 8 July 2009 (FH) - A Rwandan living on the French island of Mayotte, accused and in custody for his alleged participation in the 1994 genocide, was transferred to Reunion, another French island in the Indian Ocean, because of his health condition, reports Hirondelle Agency.

Republish

To multiply its impact, information must flow freely

Republish our original articles for free, online or in print, under Creative Commons licence.

Click here to republish this content

0 min 44Approximate reading time

A former agent of the intelligence services in Rwanda, Captain Pascal Simbikangwa, who was detained at the only prison in Mayotte, was transferred on Friday to Reunion where he was brought to the detention center, reported AFP, quoting sources in Mayotte.

This transfer was decided because of the difficulty of Simbikangwa's prolonged incarceration, he is in a wheel chair.

The prison in Reunion, unlike the prison in Mayotte, has a medical unit.

Simbikangwa has also been indicted in a trafficking of counterfeit documents case in Mayotte.

Born in 1959 in northern Rwanda, the captain was arrested in October in Mayotte in this counterfeit documents case, he was afterwards identified as being wanted by Interpol for alleged involvement in the genocide.

He was indicted on 16 April and placed in detention pending trial, after the complaint filed on 13 February by "the collective of the civil parties for Rwanda".

ER/MM/GF