[ad_1]
Survivors and relatives of victims of the 2004 Gatumba attack refugee camping Burundi Criminal cases have been filed against suspects of genocide in countries including Burundi, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Crimes against humanityis to seek justice after 20 years. Lawyers involved in the cases said the information has also been passed on to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
On August 13, 2004, the Forces nationales de libération (FNL) attacked the Gatumba refugee camp near the Congolese border, targeting mainly Banyamulenge refugees from the Congolese Tutsi province of South Kivu in eastern Congo. More than 150 civilians were killed and 106 others were injured. The refugees had fled the war in Congo. The FNL, a Burundian rebel group mainly composed of Hutus, shot and burned the Banyamulenge refugees, while refugees of other ethnicities and Burundians who also lived in the camp escaped.
Human Rights Watch research at the time The investigation found that despite the massacre taking place within a few hundred metres of the army camp, the Burundian armed forces did not intervene and UN peacekeepers were unable to protect the refugees because they learned about the attack only after it was over.
National Liberation Force Claiming responsibility Soon after the massacre, the group said it had tried to make its statements public, a claim denied years later by its then-spokesperson, Basder Habimana. In 2009, the armed group disarmed and became a political party, marking the end of the civil war.
In 2004, Burundian authorities issued arrest warrants for two FNL leaders, including prominent opposition figure Agathon Rwasa. However, he was never arrested. In September 2013, judicial authorities announced that Open a case Rwasa is suspected of War crimes and crimes against humanity committed at Gatumba, but the proceedings Postponed indefinitely.
According to lawyers involved in the case, the new complaint specifically implicates Rwasa and Habimana.
The prosecution of those responsible for this heinous massacre, despite years of delay, will help bring closure to those affected by the killings and demonstrate that justice can be served for the worst atrocities in the Great Lakes region.
[ad_2]
Source link
