Former Akazu member arrested

A member of the Akazu, the inner circle of former president of Rwanda, Juvenal Habyrimana, and also the president’s brother-in-law, was arrested on Thursday at the request of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), an ICTR statement said. Protais Zigiranyirazo, alias “Z”, was born in Giciyi commune, Gisenyi prefecture, Rwanda. It is alleged that during the events of the 1994, “Z” joined others, including Hassan Ngeze, Joseph Nzirorere and Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, who are already in custody of the tribunal in planning and ordering of the genocide. The indictment against “Z” contains two counts charging him with extermination or alternatively with murder as crimes against humanity, ICTR said. In particular, he is accused of having planned and facilitating the killings between April to July 1994 by collaborating with regional and local officials in the distribution of arms, by ordering roadblocks and subsequent killings. During May 1994, he allegedly ordered his son Jean-Marie-Vianney Makiza to kill three gendarmes who had been detained at a roadblock in Giciye, that was located opposite his residence, ICTR said. “He will be transferred to the UN detention facility in Arusha as soon as legal formalities in Belgium have been completed,” ICTR said. “Z” was suspected to have directed the “Reseau Zero” (Zero Network), a death squad active in Rwanda before the genocide. He was intercepted as he arrived in Belgium from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, last month. He is reputed to be on the Rwandan government’s “Category 1” list of suspects, who are alleged to have masterminded the 1994 genocide. He is also the main suspect of the assassination of Dian Fossey, the American woman who had to pay for her fight for mountain gorillas with her life.