One of the most wanted fugitives in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide has been arrested near Paris, authorities said.
Felicien Kabuga, who is accused of funding militias that massacred about 800,000 people, was arrested on Saturday morning, according to the France’s justice ministry.
Kabuga, 84, is Rwanda’s most wanted man and had a $5m (£4.1m) US bounty on his head.
He was arrested as a result of a joint investigation with the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals office of the prosecutor, authorities said.
Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said his arrest was "an important step towards justice for hundreds of thousands of genocide victims".
He had been living in a town north of Paris, Asnieres-sur-Seine, under a false name, the appeals court’s prosecutor’s office said.
The UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda indicted Kabuga in 1997 on charges related to conspiracy to commit genocide, persecution and extermination.
Rwandan prosecutors have said financial documents found in the capital, Kigali, after the genocide, indicated that Kabuga used his companies to import vast quantities of machetes that were used to slaughter people.
The wealthy businessman was also accused of establishing the station Radio Television Mille Collines, which broadcast vicious propaganda against the ethnic Tutsi, as well as training and equipping the Interahamwe militia that led to the killing spree.
“The arrest of Kabuga today is a reminder that those responsible for genocide can be brought to account, even 26 years after their crimes,” chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz said in a statement.
Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock said the arrest was an important step in bringing justice for the victims and survivors of the Rwandan genocide.
“Kabuga’s arrest demonstrates the power and effectiveness of international cooperation between police worldwide in identifying, locating and apprehending fugitives around the world," he said.
“In 2014, on the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, the theme of the International Expert Meeting on Genocide organised in Kigali by our fugitives unit was ‘closing the impunity gap’.
"Today is an important step in achieving this."
Kabuga is expected to be transferred to the custody of the UN mechanism, where he will stand trial.
According to Rwandan prosecutors, other top fugitives still at large include Protais Mpiranya, the former commandant of the Presidential Guards, and former defence minister Augustin Bizimana.
