Due to the exceptional suspicion of genocide, the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service demands that a man from Rwanda is sentenced to life imprisonment. The 66-year-old suspect was arrested in the Dutch town of Ede in February 2024. On the fifth day of his trial in the District Court of The Hague, the prosecutors outlined why they are convinced of this defendant’s guilt. He is charged, among other crimes, with involvement in the murder of 3,000 Tutsis in a stadium in Rwanda in 1994.
‘They had received orders to kill all Tutsis. They had said that not a single Tutsi name should remain in the municipality's ledger.’
The details remain shocking. During the Rwandan genocide, around 800,000 people were murdered in a three-month period, primarily Tutsis and moderate Hutus. In the Butare prefecture, where these crimes took place, more than 100,000 people were murdered. The Public Prosecutors:
“That was not a spontaneous explosion of violence stemming from instinctive hatred. No. It was a genocidal wave of violence, provoked and orchestrated through a targeted propaganda campaign that pitted members of the majority against everyone belonging to the minority: men, women, the elderly, children. Hundreds of thousands of victims, hundreds of thousands of perpetrators. Those perpetrators were mainly ordinary farmers who, after years of propaganda and war rhetoric, robbed and murdered their neighbors, friends, and colleagues with machetes and clubs. They were led and led in this by the local leaders.”
According to the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service, the defendant was one of those local leaders. As evidenced by various witness statements, he was involved in a rampage of plunder and destruction. The homes of Tutsis were set on fire and destroyed, and their possessions were plundered. According to the Dutch Prosecutors, the defendant incited genocide during this rampage. Shortly thereafter, a massacre of approximately 3,000 Tutsis who had gathered in Mbazi's stadium took place. The Prosecutors suspect this defendant of having committed the act of complicity in genocide against the Tutsis in the stadium. For instance, he threw a grenade into the crowd, thereby contributing to the massacre.
Investigation in Rwanda
The defendant arrived in the Netherlands in 1998 and was granted asylum here. Meanwhile, various investigations and legal proceedings regarding the massacres were underway in Rwanda, during which the defendant also appeared as a suspect. He had since settled in Ede and obtained a Dutch passport. Consequently, he could not be extradited. The International Crimes Team (TIM) of the Dutch National Police began investigating the case themselves in 2020, together with the National Public Prosecution Service (OM). To this end, the TIM traveled frequently to Rwanda to question witnesses and conduct on-site investigations. On February 14, 2024, the International Crimes Team (TIM) arrested the Rwandan-born Dutch national.
Dozens of witnesses
Under the direction of the examining magistrate, dozens of witness testimonies subsequently took place in Rwanda. An inspection also took place, allowing the events to be reconstructed. Ultimately, 40 witnesses were heard by the International Crimes Team and 31 witnesses by the examining magistrate. These witnesses are largely different from the witnesses whose statements had previously been received from the Rwandan authorities. In addition, statements and documents from local courts were thoroughly examined.
Right to speak
One day before the sentencing demand, on Monday, nine survivors exercise their right to speak. Five of them are present in the courtroom in The Hague. Their backgrounds differ; one was a student in 1994, another a farmer, and among their murdered family members were a watchmaker and a bricklayer. The speakers all narrowly survived the genocide and were eyewitnesses to extreme atrocities. “I saw with my own eyes what he did; he shouldn't lie about that,” says one of them. The perpetrators were neighbors, ‘people you used to play football with and share meals with’. Even 32 years later, the genocide is still palpable. “Sleeping sometimes feels useless because it leads to nightmares,” says a victim. “At night, your brain returns and the memories come.”
Murdered because of their ethnicity
For the survivors, it is painful that the defendant continues to deny his involvement and refuses to look them in the eye. The defendant claims that he himself was in danger during the genocide. He repeatedly states that he is a Tutsi, or at least was “labeled” as such. Yet his identity card in 1994 stated that he was a Hutu, and that is how he was viewed by the survivors. The Public Prosecution Service therefore does not believe his version of events. They are convinced that this defendant contributed to the genocide in Rwanda and also committed war crimes.
“The defendant, as a local official, participated in the plundering and destruction of the homes of Tutsis, some of whom had already been displaced and others who fled their homes as the attackers approached. To the extent that they survived the genocide, they truly lost everything: their homes, all their belongings, their livestock, their dreams for the future. Many of them were driven to the Byiza stadium, where they thought they would be safe. However, some 3,000 Tutsis were murdered there in a horrific manner. The few survivors, such as the victims present here at the hearing, must live forever with traumatic memories of the dark days of April 1994. They lost countless family members and friends. Ordinary citizens, many of whom were children and elderly people, who had done nothing wrong. They were exterminated solely because of their ethnicity.”
Sentencing demand
According to the Netherlands Public Prosecution Service, the sentences in – exceptional – cases like this must serve as an effective warning to all perpetrators of genocide that they will not be exempt from prosecution for their actions anywhere in the world. Not even in the Netherlands.
“It is evident that committing acts like these far exceeds the limits regarding the nature, severity, and scope for imposing a life sentence. If the defendant’s horrific crimes, in which not one but an estimated 3,000 innocent people were literally slaughtered, in which the defendant personally threw a grenade into a stadium packed with able-bodied men, women, and children, and in which the defendant has taken no responsibility for his actions to this day, then which acts do?”
The court’s verdict is expected on August 28, 2026.