The former local official ordered the killings of 25 Tutsis and helped compile death lists in 1994, prosecutors said
German federal prosecutors have arrested a dual German-Rwandan national on suspicion of taking part in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
The suspect, identified only as Innocent S. in line with German privacy laws, was detained on Wednesday in the Main-Kinzig district of the state of Hesse under a warrant issued by Germany’s Federal Court of Justice.
According to prosecutors, Innocent S. served as an assistant to the mayor of Kayove, a municipality in northwestern Rwanda, during the genocide.
“He ordered the killing of a total of 25 Tutsis on five different occasions,” prosecutors said in a statement.
Investigators allege that the suspect used his position to incite violence against the Tutsi minority and ordered the creation of death lists. In one case, prosecutors say, he personally took part in the murder of a man by stabbing him in the chest.
Innocent S. is expected to appear before a judge at Germany’s Federal Court of Justice, who will formally present the charges and decide whether he will remain in pre-trial detention while the investigation continues.
The genocide took place April 7 to July 19, 1994. According to the UN, Rwanda’s population at the time exceeded 7 million, with Hutus making up around 85%, Tutsis 14%, and Twa around 1%. An estimated 1 million ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by extremist Hutu factions.
The case is the latest in a series of prosecutions targeting alleged perpetrators of the genocide. Among the most prominent suspects was businessman Felicien Kabuga, accused of bankrolling militias and using his broadcaster, RTLM, to incite mass killings. Arrested in France in 2020 after decades on the run, Kabuga died in custody in last month at the age of 93.
France has convicted several suspects in recent years, including former Rwandan military policeman Philippe Hategekimana, who received a life sentence in 2023, and former doctors Sosthene Munyemana and Eugene Rwamucyo, who were sentenced to 24 and 27 years in prison.
