Felicien Kabuga, the Rwanda genocide suspect was arrested on Saturday in the Paris region, according to the French Justice Ministry.
The 84-year-old has been on the run for 25 years. He is accused of financing the 1994 genocide which left about one million people dead.
The French Justice Ministry said Kabuga was living under a false identity in a flat in Asnieres-Sur-Seine, near Paris.
French gendarmes arrested him at 0530 GMT on Saturday, the ministry said.
Kabuga’s arrest has been hailed by the United Nations International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, which said in a statement attributed to Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz that the apprehension served as “a reminder that those responsible for genocide can be brought to account, even twenty-six years after their crimes.”
“For international justice, Kabuga’s arrest demonstrates that we can succeed when we have the international community’s support. This result is a tribute to the unwavering commitment of the United Nations Security Council, which established the Mechanism to continue the accountability process in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia,” Brammertz added.
Kabuga was indicted by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 1997 on seven counts of genocide, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, attempt to commit genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, persecution and extermination, all in relation to crimes committed during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
Kabuga is expected to stand trial in the coming days.
