The Hague — Félicien Kabuga, the alleged chief financier of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, has asked to spend the last years of his life in France, according to Le Monde.
The 92-year-old former businessman remains in detention at the Scheveningen prison in the Netherlands, five years after his arrest near Paris in 2020.
Kabuga’s trial before the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals began in 2023 but was halted when judges declared him unfit to stand trial because of dementia linked to cardiovascular disease.
With no possibility of continuing the proceedings, the court is now considering his release, Le Monde reported.
Kabuga wants to join several of his thirteen children who live in France. His lawyer, Emmanuel Altit, has filed a petition with a French administrative court.
Even if the petition succeeds, the move would still need the approval of both the French Foreign and Interior ministries—a process that could take eight to ten months.
Prosecutors have suggested transferring Kabuga to Rwanda, the only country that has formally offered to accept him and guaranteed both medical care and respect for his rights.
His defense team rejects that proposal, arguing that his security cannot be assured and noting that his properties in Rwanda were seized by people close to President Paul Kagame’s government.
Kabuga, who fled Rwanda in April 1994 and spent 26 years on the run before his arrest, now spends most of his time in the prison hospital.
The United Nations, which created the Rwanda tribunal in 1994, is urging member states to help close this final, high-profile case, Le Monde said.
