"I am the victim of a politically-motivated slander campaign by Rwanda's dictatorial government," says Pierre-Claver Karangwa. This former Rwandan army captain is accused of participating in the 1994 genocide in his home country. 

Now living in the Netherlands, and a Dutch citizen since 2004, he accuses President Paul Kagame of deliberately attacking the Rwandan opposition and therefore him too.

Relying on an extensive report by human rights organisations African Rights and REDRESS, Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad reported on Mr Karangwa was involved in a massacre committed in the small town of Mugina in 1994, in which an estimated 20,000 people were killed.

Church massacre
The report accuses the former captain, now 54, of serious crimes committed in the region of Mugina, where he lived, and the Rwandan capital, Kigali. He is said to have set up, armed and funded Hutu militias.It is also alleged that he lured Tutsi refugees to Mugina's church with the promise of protection, whilst simultaneously organising the militiamen who would subsequently massacre them in that same church.

African Rights and REDRESS quote several witnesses in their report; both victims and perpetrators. "I regard Karangwa as the organiser of the genocide in our village. Villagers were involved in the killing of Tutsis because he enticed them," says one of the militia members.

"Not only did he behave as the head of the organisation. He also shot dead several victims," adds another. According to the report, Pierre-Claver Karangwa was also involved in the murder of the mayor of Mugina, who was doing all he could to protect the Tutsis from Hutu militia attacks.

Investigation
Dozens, perhaps hundreds of people accused in connection with Rwanda's 1994 bloodbath are believed to be currently living in Europe. "A considerable number of genocide suspects are living in the Netherlands," says Rakiya Omaar, director of African Rights. Of these people - numbering in the dozens - most are thought to have been senior figures, not mere followers.

African Rights is calling on the Netherlands to investigate these people and prosecute them. The Rwandan ministry of justice has already provided its Dutch counterpart with incriminating evidence concerning 16 Rwandans living in the Netherlands who are suspected of involvement in the genocide. The Dutch ministry has so far refused to comment on the report about Major Karangwa.

In an interview with NRC Handelsblad on Monday, Mr Karangwa said he had in fact tried to protect the victims in 1994, not harm them. He claims he filed an official complaint when the Gacacas, traditional Rwandan courts, sentenced him to death for his involvement in the massacre. "All the evidence has been fabricated," he said.

Link to Ingabire
According to Mr Karangwa, a campaign was started against him after he joined Victoire Ingabire, one of the main opposition leaders in Rwanda, who also lived in the Netherlands. Ms Ingabire recently returned to Rwanda to run in the upcoming August elections. She was briefly detained last week on charges of 'spreading ethnic division and propagating a genocide ideology'.

Mr Karangwa's wife is the vice-president of the Dutch association, CODAC (Contacts, Dialogues and Charities) founded by Ms Ingabire. "Obviously I constitute a threat to the Rwandan regime, and I must be blackened," says Mr Karangwa.

Rakiya Omaar of African Rights disagrees: "The first witness statements against the [former] major date back to 2005, 2006, long before Victoire Ingabire entered the stage as opposition leader".

The report is available at www.redress.org

*The NRC Handelsblad article was co-written by Koert Lindijer and an NRC editor.