Indicted By The International Criminal Court
On 11 October 2010, Mbarushimana was arrested in France under a sealed warrant from the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in the Kivus (Democratic Republic of the Congo). The warrant concerns widespread attacks allegedly committed by troops of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), against civilians in North and South Kivu in 2009. The Court's judges state that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Mbarushimana, as Executive Secretary of the FDLR, bears criminal responsibility for these attacks, including murder, torture, rape, persecution and inhumane acts. The warrant alleges that Mbarushimana was part of a plan to create a humanitarian catastrophe to extract concessions of political power for the FDLR.
On 25 January 2011, Mbarushimana was extradited to the International Criminal Court for prosecution at The Hague. Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo issued a statement in which he recalled that Mbarushimana's FDLR triggered the Congo wars and that girls and women have borne the brunt of ruthless sexual violence for almost a generation. He stated that, due to the ICC, "rape can no longer be used as a weapon of war".
Read more about this topic: Callixte Mbarushimana
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