Ignace Murwanashyaka (14 May 1963 – 16 April 2019) was a Rwandan rebel leader who led the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic group native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda where they form one of the principal ethnic groups alongside the Tutsi and the Great L ...

rebel group composed of individuals responsible for the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...

. Operating in eastern

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

, the FDLR are responsible for large scale human rights violations and

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are certain serious crimes committed as part of a large-scale attack against civilians. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can be committed during both peace and war and against a state's own nationals as well as ...

, including rape on a massive scale.

Life

Murwanashyaka was born in Butare and has studied economic sciences in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, 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 The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. In November 2005 he was blacklisted by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

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 Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

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

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 began on May 4, 2011 before the Oberlandesgericht in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

. They are accused of several counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity according to the German

Völkerstrafgesetzbuch The ''Völkerstrafgesetzbuch'' (, "Code of Crimes against International Law"), abbreviated ''VStGB'', is a German law that regulates crimes against (public) international law. It allows cases to be brought against suspects under international c ...

. 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 The Federal Court of Justice ( , ) is the highest court of Private law, civil and Criminal law, criminal jurisdiction in Germany. Its primary responsibility is the final appellate review of decisions by lower courts for errors of law. While, le ...

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, 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 Pre-trial detention, also known as jail, preventive detention, provisional detention, or remand, is the process of detaining a person until their trial after they have been arrested and charged with an offence. A person who is on remand is ...

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

solitary confinement Solitary confinement (also shortened to solitary) is a form of imprisonment in which an incarcerated person lives in a single Prison cell, cell with little or no contact with other people. It is a punitive tool used within the prison system to ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murwanashyaka, Ignace 1963 births 2019 deaths Rwandan genocide perpetrators Rwandan people convicted of crimes against humanity Rwandan people convicted of war crimes Rwandan people imprisoned abroad Rwandan soldiers People from Butare Hutu people Prisoners who died in German detention Violence against women in Rwanda