Felicien Kabuga
Genocide suspect Félicien Kabuga reappeared in court this November 16, 2022 to listen to evidence from one of the militia who “shared a drink with him before working together during the genocide.”
Witness KAB076, also a self-confessed militia (Interahamwe) told the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) Court that he provided information about the Interahamwe activities in and around Kigali before the genocide.
He said that he was aware of Kabuga’s influential in the National Revolutionary Movement for Development (MRND) and his support to the Interahamwe through lending of his building to the militia groups to conduct their business.
Witness KAB076, who was a refugee in DR Congo, was tried for genocide crimes and sentenced to life in prison and the Prosecution proceeded to examine the witness on how he knew Kabuga and the alleged militia weapons supplied by Kabuga.
Kabuga’s lawyer, Maître Françoise Mathe asked the witness precisely how he came back to Rwanda after his time in Congo and he said he arrived in Rwanda on 26 March 1997 aboard a plane paid for by the Congolese authorities which landed in Goma from which a vehicle took him and others back in Rwanda.
On knowledge about Kabuga, the defense asked when the witness met the accused (Kabuga) for the first time and the witness stated that he met him when he was a prominent businessman in Kigali.
Asked to give more precisions, and how often would the witness meet Kabuga personally, the witness explained that he met Kabuga for the first time in 1993 in his factory where he was introduced to Kabuga by the national leader of the Interahamwe who explained to Kabuga the role of witness KAB076.
And at the moment, witness KAB076 stated that he was offered a drink and was thanked by the accused for his work.
The witness also gave precise information about the location of the Interahamwe room in the Muhima building (owned by Kabuga) in which the militia met.
He stated that the room occupied by the Interahamwe president was to the right side of the road heading to the Kigali city centre but that the training itself didn’t take place inside the building.
He said that the said room could not be seen from the roadside as the only window in that room was in a corner and clarified on the alleged bullet shot in the room saying it was an accident, which resulted to halting further meetings at the building and this was after Kabuga asked the interahamwe to vacate the building.
Asked on where Interahamwe met after leaving Kabuga’s building (at Muhima), the witness replied that the MRND relocated the meeting to another building of Kabuga in Kimironko which was not far from Kigali city center and moved from there in May or June 1993.
In Kimironko, KAB076 said “the militia from Kimiranko” were nationally known as “Kabuga’s Interahamwe” and they met at Kabuga’s residence in Kimironko where they received arms in May 1994 to be used in killing the Tutsi and these orders had come from none but Kabuga.”
He confessed having personally seen the lorry that brought the ammunition which were marked with the letters ‘KF’-initials standing for “Kabuga Félicien”
Like the previous witness, KAB076 also stated that Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) contributed significantly to the genocide killings as it monitored the activities of Interahamwe and named the Tutsi to be killed or ‘marked for death’ to incite the population and encourage interahamwe militia to commit genocide.
