Judges declined, by majority, to confirm the charges against the Executive Secretary of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) on December 16, 2011. Mbarushimana was released from custody a week later and taken to Paris.
They found that there was not sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that Mbarushimana could be held criminally responsible for the crimes.
The Prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, had charged Mbarushimana with five counts of crimes against humanity (murder, inhumane acts, rape, torture, and persecution) and eight counts of war crimes (attacking civilians, murder, mutilation, cruel treatment, rape, torture, destruction of property and pillaging).
Confirmation of charges hearing was held from 16 to 21 September 2011. He was surrendered to the custody of the ICC by French authorities on January 25, 2011, in accordance with the warrant of arrest delivered against him on September 28, 2010.
On May 14, 2012, Moreno Ocampo requested the judges to issue an arrest warrant against Rwandese rebel leader, Sylvestre Mudacumura, for crimes against humanity and war crimes, allegedly committed between 20 January 2009 and 31 August 2010, in North and South Kivu Provinces.
Mudacumura is the field commander of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) whose leaders are believed to have taken part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
FK/ER/GF