Ignace Murwanashyaka (14 May 1963 – 16 April 2019) was a leader of the

Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (french: Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda, FDLR) is an armed rebel group active in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. As an ethnic Hutu group opposed to the ethnic Tuts ...

(FDLR), a

Rwanda Rwanda (; rw, u Rwanda ), officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Central Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator ...

n Hutu rebel group that absorbed a number of military people responsible for the Rwanda genocide, and operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The FDLR are responsible for large scale human rights violations and

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

, including rape on a massive scale.

Life

Murwanashyaka was born in Butare and has studied economic sciences in West Germany, 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. In November 2005 he was blacklisted by the United Nations 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, Germany 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 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 Straton or Strato may refer to: * Strato I, Indo-Greek king * Strato II, Indo-Greek king * Strato of Lampsacus (c. 335 – c. 269 BC), Greek philosopher * Straton of Sardis, Greek poet and anthologist * Abdashtart I (Straton I, 365–352 BC), ki ...

began on May 4, 2011 before the Oberlandesgericht in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

. They are accused of several counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity according to the German Völkerstrafgesetzbuch. 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. On 20 December 2018, the Federal Court of Justice 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 The University Hospital Mannheim is a maximum care hospital with many specialisations. It currently consists of 21 specialised clinics, all situated on a historic campus in the centre of Mannheim and focuses on interdisciplinary and interprofess ...

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

solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...

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