Taarifa News desk has reliably learned that controversial Felician Kabuga has died.
Félicien Kabuga aged 93, died on Saturday while hospitalized in The Hague, The Netherlands.
Kabuga has been awaiting provisional release to a State willing to accept him on its territory.
A former business tycoon in Rwanda, Kabuga was charged with genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, incitement to genocide, and crimes against humanity, including persecution, extermination, and murder, committed during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi which claimed more than a million lives in Rwanda.
The Dutch authorities have effectively started conducting standard procedures and investigations required under Dutch national law.
Exercising her authority under the Statute of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism) and the Rules of Detention, the President of the Mechanism, Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, has ordered a full inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Kabuga’s death, assigning Judge Alphons Orie to conduct the inquiry.
In May 2020, Kabuga was arrested in France and transferred to the Hague branch of the Mechanism on 26 October 2020. His trial commenced on 29 September 2022.
On 8 September 2023, following the Appeals Chamber decision of 7 August 2023, the Trial Chamber issued a decision indefinitely staying the proceedings as Mr. Kabuga was considered unfit to stand trial, and ordering that he remains in detention at the UNDU, pending the resolution of the issue of his provisional release.