Benin: Ex-Rwanda militia genocide chief dies

  1. Posted on Wednesday 13 October 2010 - 11:40
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    Nangayi Guyson, AfricaNews reporter in Kampala, Uganda
    The former militia chief of Rwanda Georges Rutaganda who was sentenced by the UN tribunal for Rwanda to life in prison for his role in the 1994 genocide, has died in Benin where he was serving his sentence, a statement said on Wednesday.
    Rwanda threatens to withdraw its UN peacekeepers
    “The leader of the Interahamwe militia whose members did much of the killing during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, died of sudden complications from a long illness," the tribunal said in an AFP report.

    Rutaganda, 52, died a natural death on Monday, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) said in a statement.

    He was also a shareholder in the Mille Collines radio, notorious for inciting the population to kill Tutsis during the genocide.

    Rutaganda, who was serving life for genocide and crimes against humanity, had been incarcerated in Benin since June 2009 following an agreement between the West African country and the UN, which set up the ICTR, based in Arusha in northern Tanzania.

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