Léonidas Rusatira was a

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

in the

Rwandan Armed Forces french: Forces rwandaises de défense sw, Nguvu ya Ulinzi ya Watu wa Rwanda , image = Rwanda Defense Force emblem.png , alt = , caption = , image2 = , alt2 = , caption2 ...

(FAR) during the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed Hutu ...

in 1994. He was also commander of the (ESM) military school and of the Rwanda Ministry of Defence. He was arrested on 15 May 2002 on a warrant issued by Judge Lloyd George Williams. An investigation led by

Alison Des Forges Alison Des Forges (née Liebhafsky; August 20, 1942 – February 12, 2009) was an American historian and human rights activist who specialized in the African Great Lakes region, particularly the 1994 Rwandan genocide. At the time of her death, s ...

convinced the prosecutor to drop the charges against Rusatira. Rusatira has described himself as "a

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the prin ...

from the north". Rusatira fled to

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

when the FAR were defeated by

Rwandan Patriotic Front The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF–Inkotanyi, french: Front patriotique rwandais, FPR) is the ruling political party in Rwanda. Led by President Paul Kagame, the party has governed the country since its armed wing defeated government forces, winn ...

(RPF) forces. Though approximately 2 million Hutu remained in the exile after the genocide, Rusatire returned to

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

and by 1995 he had been "reintegrated" into the Rwandan military. In November 1995, he left Rwanda once again and fled to exile in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. While in Brussels he was critical of the Rwandan government arguing that "the system used in

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali has been Rwa ...

wants, while downplaying the genocide into an inexhaustible source of political exploitation, to finish off all attempts at contestation by using all available means to force into silence all opinion leaders and to eliminate potential interlocutors."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rusatira, Leonidas People indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Hutu people