ARUSHA, Tanzania (Reuters) - Belgium has handed over an alleged mastermind of Rwanda's 1994 genocide to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Tanzania to face charges of crimes against humanity.
Protais Zigiranyirazo, 63, was the brother-in-law of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana, whose death when his plane was shot down sparked off the genocide that killed an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus between April and July 1994.
He was arrested at Brussels airport in early June and requested political asylum but was subsequently detained at the request of U.N. chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte.
Belgian government authorities handed him over on Wednesday and he was transferred to a U.N. detention facility in the north Tanzanian town of Arusha.
Commonly known in Rwanda as ``Monsieur Z,'' Zigiranyirazo is accused of being a member of the Akazu, the small yet powerful ruling elite of Hutu family members and relatives who plotted to exterminate the minority Tutsis.(Read photo caption below)
He is also alleged to have been a member of the notorious Zero Network of death squads which killed hundreds of Tutsis in the years leading up to the genocide.
In their indictment, prosecutors allege Zigiranyirazo ordered or authorised roadblocks to be set up near each of his three residences, knowing they would be used in the campaign of extermination and killing.
He is expected to appear before a tribunal judge soon to make his plea.
PHOTO CAPTION:
A Rwandan boy carries his shopping home on a bicycle made from wood, Monday, Oct. 1, 2001, near Butare some 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of Kigali, Rwanda. At least half a million Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus were killed during a 100-day killing spree organized by the extremist Hutu government in the small central African nation. Rwandans began to elect judges for the traditional courts of justice expected to speed up trial of more than 110,000 people in jail. Only some 6,000 people have been tried since 1994, - Oct 04 7:51 AM ET(AP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)
- Oct 01 1:27 PM ET