Wanted Rwandan spy chief arrested in London
Rwanda’s intelligence chief Emmanuel Karenzi Karake, who is wanted in Spain on war crime charges, has reportedly been detained in the British capital, London.
British media reported on Tuesday that the Metropolitan Police Service, the top police authority in London also known as the Met, arrested Lieutenant-General Karake on behalf of Spanish officials on Saturday morning.
“Karenzi Karake, 54, a Rwandan national appeared before Westminster magistrates’ court on Saturday 20 June after being arrested on a European arrest warrant on behalf of the authorities in Spain, where he is wanted in connection with war crimes against civilians,” said a Met spokesman.
Karake had already traveled to the UK a number of times since a formal charge against him was filed by Spanish authorities almost a decade ago.
Just earlier this month, Karake had traveled to the UK on business-related matters.
In 2008, a Spanish judge indicted Karake for allegedly committing vengeance killings in the years after the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
He is accused of ordering massacres when he was in charge of Rwanda’s military intelligence in the years between 1994 and 1997.
He is also accused of ordering the killing of three Spanish nationals working for Médicos del Mundo, a non-government organization.
The general is one of 40 other current or former Rwandan military officials named on the Spanish indictment.
Karake is currently a leading member of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, the current ruling party that makes up most of the government in the African country. He was previously the second-in-charge of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Darfur, Sudan.
About 800,000 people in Rwanda were killed between April and June 1994 by the ethnic French-backed Hutu extremists. Most of the dead were members of the minority Tutsi ethnic community.
The Rwandan genocide began following the shooting down of a plane carrying former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana on April 6, 1994. Then Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira was also killed in the plane crash. They were both ethnic Hutus.
After the crash, extremists from the majority Hutus committed acts of ethnic violence against Tutsis.
HDS/MKA/HJL
UK's Sunak vows to start migrant flights to Rwanda
US, UK impose new sanctions on Iran over retaliation against Israel
Former minister says UK should consider sending troops to Ukraine
VIDEO | Leader meets workers on Labor Week
French police called in to break up US-style pro-Palestinian student demo
VIDEO | US continues starving Syrians, stealing their resources
Yemeni forces strike Israeli ship, Port of Eilat in solidarity with Gaza
Columbia, Yale students bent on ending US support for Israeli genocide
VIDEO | Genocide in Gaza
Iran calls on BRICS to play role in stopping Israeli crimes
President Raeisi’s historic visit opens new chapter in Iran-Pakistan ties
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
