The London-based African Rights organisation has called for investigations into a genocide suspect, Jean-Baptiste Gatete, accused of leading killings in the prefecture of Kibungo and Murambi commune in Byumba prefecture. In a charge sheet, released on Friday, the organisation said Gatete “stands out among those leaders of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda who are still at liberty. He is known to many in Rwanda as a notorious extremist and a committed genocidaire”. “Unlike most of the orchestrators of the genocide, Gatete was neither in the military or government at the time, but he was an enormously influential figure, feared by many locally,” the report said. Although there was no confirmation of Gatete’s current whereabouts, “there are strong claims that he is living in Tanzania, that he has converted to Islam and has adopted a Muslim name”, African Rights said.
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