Name Juvenal Uwilingiyimana Role Politician | Died 2005, Brussels, Belgium | |
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Juvénal Uwilingiyimana (1951–2005) was a Rwandan politician. He held office as Commerce Minister and as the head of national parks. He was an ethnic Hutu and originated in Gisenyi prefecture.
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In 1989, he was appointed the Minister for Trade in the MRND government of Juvénal Habyarimana. In 1994 he became the director of national tourism in the provisional government following Habyarimana's assassination.
After the Genocide
Shortly thereafter, in the wake of the RPF victory after the Rwandan Genocide, Uwilingiyimana fled the country. As of 2005, he was living in Anderlecht, Belgium, a suburb of Brussels.
On 10 June 2005 he was accused of complicity in the Rwandan Genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. The charges included incitement to commit genocide, complicity in genocide and murder. Following his indictment, Uwilingiyimana met with ICTR officials a number of times from August to November 2005, and provided information later used in the prosecution of other members of the former régime. [1]
Disappearance and death
On 21 November 2005, he disappeared from his home. His body, naked and badly decomposed, was found floating in the Brussels–Charleroi Canal on 17 December. [2] His body was so decomposed that DNA evidence was required to identify it. His hands had also been severed from his body.
In response to his death, ICTR Prosecutor Hassan Bubacar Jallow issued a statement indicating that "this individual, although an indictee of the Tribunal, voluntarily agreed to cooperate in the search for truth and justice for the Rwanda genocide of 1994. I convey my sincere condolences to his family." [3]
The Chief Investigator of the ICTR, Stephen Rapp, inquired that the last meeting with Uwilingiyimana took place three days before his disappearance. One week after his disappearance a letter appeared by Uwilingiyimana. In the letter dated November 5, 2005, Uwilingiyimana addresses the prosecutor of the ICTR. It has him saying that he will no longer deal with the ICTR regarding the genocide. The letter also said that he was being told to give false information in order to incriminate others and that Rapps Canadian investigators had threatened to kill him and cut his body in pieces if he did not give the false testimony he required. This included certain members of the Akazu, and the leadership of the MRND.
There has been much speculation about his death. There have been mentions the cause of death could have been a suicide, homicide, or even the work of Hutus who were afraid of Uwilingiyimana testifying against them. Although, the ICTR claims that extra precautions were taken in him releasing any information to them. Uwilingiyimana was not officially indicted by the tribunal until a week after he went missing. Defence counsel at the tribunal demanded that Rapp and the two Canadian police officers be suspended and investigated for involvement in the murder but nothing was done.