Dutch police are in Rwanda to investigate suspects living in The Netherlands accused of crimes committed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, an official said Thursday.

Tweet

"A team of five investigators, all Dutch police officers, are here to hear witnesses about two dozen suspects living in The Netherlands," said Jean Bosco Siboyintore, the head of the unit tracking down genocide suspects.

Kigali has sent to The Hague a list of 20 Dutch-based suspects it accuses of involvement in the genocide, he added.

"We agreed (with the Dutch) that investigators would come to Rwanda to investigate themselves," said Siboyintore. "They conduct their investigations independently."

Among the suspects accused of genocide and incitement to commit genocide is Yvonne Basebya, aged 64, the wife of a former parliamentarian.

She is accused of preparing a list of people to be killed in the Kigali neighbourhood she lived in -- charges for which Rwanda's traditional courts tried her in absentia on in 2007 and sentenced her to life imprisonment.

A Dutch appeals court last week sentenced to life imprisonment Joseph Mpambara, for having carried out an attack on a Protestant church where Tutsis had fled.

He was the first Rwandan to be convicted in The Netherlands for crimes during the genocide in which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus died, according to United Nations estimates.

Source: AFP