Jean-Marie Vianney Mudahinyuka, 45, is better known by the name of "Zuzu". In April 1994, he was one of the eleven national leaders of the Interahamwe militia in Rwanda. Ten years later, in May 2004, he was arrested in the USA where he had been living under a false name. On 14 June 2005, the judge of a district court in Chicago sentenced him to the maxim prison term of 51 months for breaching US immigration law. Associated Press reports that the federal judge considered increasing the Rwandan's sentence in the light of allegations against him relating to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. But he finally decided that such charges should be heard before another court. It now looks likely that Mudahinyuka will be brought before a Rwandan court, which has issued an extradition order against him. Speaking to the news agency Hirondelle on 15 June, the Rwandan chief prosecutor Jean de Dieu Mucyo said: "They should not wait. They should send him here immediately. We will continue to demand his extradition". "Zuzu" is accused of taking part in the genocide in several Kigali neighbourhoods. His closest friend in the Interahamwe leadership was Georges Rutaganda, who was found guilty of genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and sentenced to life imprisonment in December 1999. The office of the prosecutor at the ICTR, which is expected to give Rwanda the priority in the Zuzu case, also has substantial evidence against him, including testimony from former Interahamwe leaders who have cooperated with the ICTR.





















Post new comment
Please be reminded all comments must be in English, short and to the point - guideline 250 words. Abusive and inappropriate comments will be removed.