CNLG demands the judgment or extradition of Charles Ndereyehe Ntahontuye, “a founding member of the CDR and organizer of the genocide”
The National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG) demands the judgment or extradition of Charles Ndereyehe Ntahontuye, a founding member of the CDR and organizer of the genocide in Rwanda.
Charles Ndereyehe Ntahontuye is from Cyabingo commune in the former Ruhengeri prefecture, one of the fiefdoms of the former Rwandan regime. In 1992, along with extremist intellectuals, including Ferdinand Nahimana, Dr. Eugene Rwamucyo, Dr. Jean-Berchmas Nshimyumuremyi and others, Ndereyehe created and led a criminal group called the Cercle des Républicains Progressistes, which sensitized students to prepare for genocide in university campuses of Nyakinama and Butare.
Ndereyehe was first a member of the presidential party MRND. But in 1992, he left the MRND and contributed to the creation of a radical Hutu party, Coalition pour la Défense de la République (CDR), whose role in the genocide committed against the Tutsi in 1994 is crucial. On November 5, 2008, Ndereyehe was tried in absentia by the Gacaca court of Gikirambwa, and was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide at the Institute of Agricultural Sciences of Rwanda (ISAR).
1. At ISAR Rubona, Ndereyehe organized the genocide
Upon his arrival at ISAR in 1993 as Director General of this Institute, Ndereyehe drew up a plan to exterminate the families of Tutsi employees under his authority and that of the Tutsi population around ISAR. He first set up a committee of killers in Rubona as well as in its seven branches scattered throughout the country. Ndereyehe chased or transferred non-extremist employees of ISAR Rubona and retained in the management positions the only staff members who shared his anti-Tutsi extremism and who agreed to commit genocide.
On 21st Mach 1993, Ndereyehe sent an official letter to Didace Mugemana, the then Human Resources Manager at ISAR, in which he bestowed him with full powers, including that of taking all the decisions would find it useful. All executives of ISAR received a copy of this letter. Applying the orders of Ndereyehe, Didace Mugemana created and coordinated the establishment of militias at ISAR.
Once these militias were recruited, Ndereyehe, in collaboration with Captain Ildephonse Nizeyimana, who was like him from the north of the country, organized their training on weapons handling at the Ecole des Sous-Officiers (ESSO) in Butare. Those who completed the training returned to Rubona and in turn trained other militias in the forest estates of ISAR Rubona and Songa.
Ndereyehe was supported by the gendarmes of Nyanza commanded by another extremist officer, Captain François-Xavier Bilikunzira, who was also involved in the perpetration of the genocide in Nyanza town and surrounding communes.
In April 1994, Ndereyehe conducted various genocide preparation meetings at ISAR offices, setting up an effective plan of extermination to leave no Tutsi survivors in ISAR and its surroundings. He requisitioned ISAR vehicles for the transportation of the killers and provided financial rewards to those who would become famous in the genocide. The great massacre took place on 26thApril, 1994. More than 300 people were killed under his orders, men, women, children, and babies.
2. Ndereyehe funded the perpetration of the genocide
On 25th May1994, in the midst of the genocide, Prime Minister Jean Kambanda sent a directive to all the prefects to continue the hunt for Tutsi and Hutu who were against the genocide. This operation was named “Auto-Défense Civile”. In accordance with this directive, Ndereyehe sent a letter to all the staffers of ISAR on the same day, ordering each of them to relinquish 20% of their salary of May 1994 in support of this operation, which was actually an incentive to speed up the genocide.
In this letter, Ndereyehe also promised to sequester from the ISAR budget the sum of one million Rwandan francs to reward the killers. The letter was co-signed by the 10 executives of ISAR Headquarters and its branches and distributed there. Those who co-signed it were: Nyabyenda Pierre (Scientific Director), Shyirambere Jean Damascène (Finance Director), Rutunga Venant (Director of the Regional Center for the Central Plateau), Tegera Pierre (Director of the Regional Center for Lava Lands), Sibomana Gaëtan (Director of the Regional Center of Bugesera and Mayaga), Nkusi Jean Baptiste (Director of the Regional Center for Buberuka Highs), Gahamanyi Anastase (Regional Director of the Highlands of Crete Zaïre Nile), Musabyimana Thaddée (Director of the Regional Center for the Eastern Plateau), Ndayizigiye François (director of the regional center of Bugarama and Lake Kivu borders) and two researchers from ISAR Kavamahanga François and Kagenzi Pierre.
3. Ndereyehe was publicly cited by the genocidal regime as a model in public and direct incitement to commit genocide
Ndereyehe’s criminal example of incitement to genocide has exceeded the limits of ISAR Rubona. His commitment was cited as a model in meetings organized by the Government to incite the population to involve in the genocide. Thus, during a meeting led by Nsabumugisha Basile, prefect of Ruhengeri, on 9th June 1994, attended by all the bourgoumestres of this prefecture, Colonel Bonaventure Ntibitura, then responsible for the Auto-Défense Civile in Ruhengeri, cited Ndereyehe Charles’s good example to claim financial participation in favor of the genocidal forces: “Ndereyehe, the Director of ISAR, in agreement with the Board of Directors of this institution, have secured a financial contribution of Rwf1,000,000, in such a way that anyone who disarms an Inyenzi-Inkotanyi and brings back his weapon will receive a reward of Frw10,000. This corresponded to the direct and public encouragement to persecute and kill the Tutsi.
One of the main decisions of this meeting was that of providing the killers with fuel so that they could go to any massacre site, including outside the Ruhengeri prefecture. This is how the killers who exterminated the Tutsi of Bisesero on the 30th of June, 1994, came from different places, including Cyangugu, Gisenyi, Ruhengeri and Kibuye.
4. Ndereyehe started the genocide project before being appointed to ISAR
Before being sent to ISAR, Ndereyehe headed the Gikongoro Agricultural Development Project (PDAG). At that time, Ndereyehe was part of government officials who established Interahamwe militia in Gikongoro, in collaboration with Captain Faustin Sebuhura, Deputy Commander of the Gikongoro Gendarmerie. Sebuhura was from Mukingo commune in Ruhengeri, the same area as Ndereyehe. In setting up the militia in Gikongoro, Ndereyehe also collaborated with the directors of agricultural projects located in Gikongoro, including Pierre Célestin Mutabaruka, Manager of projet Crête Zaïre Nil , managers of tea factories of Mata (Denis Kamodoka) and Kitabi (Juvenal Ndabarinze), the various cadres of the Gikongoro prefecture, including Justin Ayurugari, head of ELECTROGAZ and Celse Semigabo, public prosecutor. They are all prosecuted today for genocide.
5. Since his exile in the Netherlands, Ndereyehe continues his genocidal project
Ndereyehe left Rwanda in 1994 when the criminal government and its army lost the war. He was among those who, then refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), created on 3rd April, 1995, an extremist political-military movement, the RDR, based on the ideology of genocide. Ndereyehe currently lives in the Netherlands and is one of the leaders of the FDU-INKINGI, a terrorist party holding genocide ideology.
In numerous press releases of the FDU-INKINGI that he publishes, Ndereyehe fiercely denies the genocide committed against the Tutsi, preaches genocide denial and attacks the memory of this genocide by calling it a “business fund”.
In the Netherlands, Ndereyehe coordinates the activities of other extremist groups of radical Rwandan exiles, nostalgic for an ethnic ideology that led to the genocide committed against the Tutsi in 1994. Among these groups are the FEDERMO (Federation of Rwandan Organizations in the Netherlands), CARP (Collective of Rwandan Associations in the Netherlands), RIFDP-NL (International Network of Women for Democracy and Peace), DEN HAAG, Pro Justitia, FFDR (Foundation for Freedom and Democracy in Rwanda).
Since 20 April 2010, Ndereyehe has been subject to an international arrest warrant issued by the Rwandan courts. He is also on the list of people wanted by Interpol. However, this does not prevent him from quietly continuing his criminal propaganda activities in Europe and elsewhere, which he leads with other groups animated by the ideology of genocide, including RNC, FDLR and FDU-INKINGI.
6. Urgency to try or extradite
In accordance with Security Council Resolution 2150 (16 April 2014), which requires States “to investigate, arrest, prosecute or extradite, in fulfilment of their international obligations to all other fugitives accused of genocide residing on their territory, including FDLR leaders”, the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide requests the Netherlands to try Ndereyehe Charles Ntahontuye. Due to lack of judgment, Dutch justice should extradite Ndereyehe to Rwanda as was done for Jean Claude Iyamuremye and Jean Baptiste Mugimba extradited to Rwanda on 12th November 2016.
Remind that the Dutch courts have already tried Joseph Mpambara who was sentenced to life on 7th July 2011 for crimes he committed in Mugonero during the genocide. Similarly, Yvonne Basebya Ntacyobatabara was tried in Netherlands and sentenced, on 1st March 2013, to 6 years and 8 months in prison after being convicted of crimes committed in Gikondo during the genocide.
By Press release of CNLG signed at Kigali, 12 mars 2018 by Dr BIZIMANA Jean-Damascène
Executive Secretary
