A check against INTERPOL’s wanted persons databases by German border police at Frankfurt airport resulted in the arrest of a man wanted in connection with the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Callixte Mbarushimana is the subject of an INTERPOL Red Notice, or international wanted persons notice, issued at the request of INTERPOL’s National Central Bureau (NCB) in Kigali for genocide, murder, extermination and creation of a criminal organization.
On 25 June 2008, as part of INTERPOL’s Rwandan Genocide Fugitives Project, the General Secretariat headquarters in Lyon, France circulated a list detailing the fugitives wanted by NCB Kigali in connection with the Rwandan genocide to all 186 INTERPOL member countries.
Mbarushimana, who was on the list, was arrested by German police on 7 July as he was departing Frankfurt for St Petersburg, following close co-operation between the INTERPOL NCBs in Wiesbaden and Kigali, the German central war crimes unit, the tracking unit of the Rwandan General Prosecutor’s Office together with the Fugitive Investigative Service and Notices units at the INTERPOL General Secretariat.
“This arrest clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of inter agency and cross border co-operation and is a credit to all law enforcement officers and agencies involved,” said INTERPOL’s Executive Director of Police Services Jean-Michel Louboutin.
“The Red Notice requested by Kigali, the information circulated via INTERPOL’s global network and the inclusion of this information in the national databases by German authorities were all key steps in the arrest of a man wanted in connection with horrific crimes.
“This arrest underlines the ongoing commitment of all INTERPOL member countries to bring each and every one of these fugitives to justice, and the value to frontline law enforcement officers in ensuring they have access to vital police information contained in INTERPOL’s databases,” added Mr Louboutin.
Mbarushimana is the eighth Rwandan genocide fugitive subject of an INTERPOL Red Notice issued at the request of NCB Kigali and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to be arrested in the past 12 months. The individuals still wanted in connection with the Rwandan genocide can be found in the fugitives section.