Ignace Murwanashyaka (14 May 1963 – 16 April 2019) was a leader of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan

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 p ...

rebel group that absorbed a number of military people responsible for the Rwanda genocide, and operating in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. The FDLR are responsible for large scale human rights violations and crimes against humanity, including rape on a massive scale.

Life

Murwanashyaka was born in

Butare Butare (), also known as Huye, is a city (population: 50,220 as of 2012) in the Southern Province of Rwanda and the capital of Huye district. It is the fourth largest town in Rwanda by population. History The Belgian colonial rulers establish ...

and has studied economic sciences in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, including a doctor's degree, and lived there since 1989, on asylum since 2000. He was married to a German woman and has children with her. Since 2001 he had been travelling between Germany and the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. In November 2005 he was blacklisted by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

for violating an arms embargo aimed at promoting peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and subjected to a travel bans and assets freeze. He was arrested on 7 April 2006 in

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

for immigration violations and released shortly after. On 26 May 2006 preliminary investigation were opened against him for "Initial suspicion of involvement in crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo", but the prosecution has since been abandoned. Rwanda indicated it would seek his extradition for alleged crimes committed 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 H ...

and has issued an arrest warrant. He was arrested again on 17 November 2009 by the German authorities. The trial for him and his alleged aide Straton Musoni began on May 4, 2011 before the

Oberlandesgericht An ''Oberlandesgericht'' (plural – ''Oberlandesgerichte''; OLG, en, Higher Regional Court, or in Berlin '' Kammergericht'': KG) is a higher court in Germany. There are 24 OLGs in Germany and they deal with civil and criminal matters. They a ...

in Stuttgart. They are accused of several counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity according to the German

Völkerstrafgesetzbuch The ''Völkerstrafgesetzbuch'' (, "Code of Crimes against International Law"), abbreviated ''VStGB'', is a German law that regulates crimes against (public) international law. It allows cases to be brought against suspects under international c ...

. Their trial is the first held in Germany for crimes against this law. In September 2015, Murwanashyaka was sentenced to 13 years, Musoni to 8 years, in prison. He had previously been in solitary confinement for six years in the terrorist wing of the high-security

Stammheim Prison Stammheim Prison (german: Justizvollzugsanstalt Stuttgart-Stammheim) is a prison in Stuttgart, Baden Württemberg, Germany. It is situated on the northern boundaries of Stuttgart in the city district of Stuttgart-Stammheim, right between fields a ...

. On 20 December 2018, the

Federal Court of Justice The Federal Court of Justice (german: Bundesgerichtshof, BGH) is the highest court in the system of ordinary jurisdiction (''ordentliche Gerichtsbarkeit'') in Germany, founded in 1950. It has its seat in Karlsruhe with two panels being situat ...

overturned the judgment on revision of the defendant and the Public Prosecutor General as a whole. The new trial should have started in May 2019. On 16 April 2019, Murwanashyaka died in the University Hospital Mannheim, after being transferred there from the infirmary of the Mannheim correctional facility, because he said he had a spinal problem. Until his death, he spent nine and a half years in German

pre-trial detention Remand, also known as pre-trial detention, preventive detention, or provisional detention, is the process of detaining a person until their trial after they have been arrested and charged with an offence. A person who is on remand is held i ...

without interruption, longer than any other accused in Germany before. He spent the time in solitary confinement.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murwanashyaka, Ignace 1963 births 2019 deaths Rwandan genocide perpetrators Prisoners and detainees of Germany Rwandan people imprisoned abroad Rwandan soldiers People from Butare Hutu people Prisoners who died in German detention