Kayishema is alleged to have orchestrated the killing of about 2,000 Tutsi refugees at the Nyange Catholic Church during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) said.

He has been at large since 2001.

“Fulgence Kayishema was a fugitive for more than 20 years. His arrest ensures that he will finally face justice for his alleged crimes,” IRMCT prosecutor Serge Brammertz said.

Kayishema was indicted by the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 2001, which charged him with genocide and crimes against humanity for killings and other crimes committed in the Kibuye Prefecture.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Pretoria finally helps UN criminal tribunal track down Rwanda genocide suspect Fulgence Kayishema

Brammertz said the investigation that led to his arrest spanned a number of countries in Africa and beyond, and was made possible through the support and cooperation of the South African authorities.

The Tanzania-based Rwanda tribunal wound up its cases in 2008, after which the IRMCT was established to complete its remaining work.

The tribunal referred Kayishema’s case to Rwanda in 2007, after the country had scrapped the death penalty. Reuters/DM

(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Alex Richardson)