Lawyers representing Rwandan genocide suspect Fulgence Kayishema, who had been on the run for 22 years before his arrest last month, have told the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court that their client will apply for asylum on political grounds in South Africa.
It could delay his possible extradition to Rwanda for several years and significantly delay his trial on charges of genocide, complicity to genocide and crimes against humanity.
He is accused of directly participating in the killings as well as ordering the massacre on 15 April 1994 of 2,000 ethnic Tutsi people who were hiding in a Catholic Church in western Rwanda.
He was indicted in 2001 by the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which has since closed, with his case being transferred to Rwanda for trial.
Mr Kayishema, now in his sixties, was arrested on a grape farm in South Africa’s Western Cape province last month.
He also faces 54 charges in South Africa related to fraud and contravening the immigration act.
On Tuesday, lawyer Juan Smuts said Mr Kayishema had abandoned his bail application, which had been due to be heard on Tuesday.
South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority has said Mr Kayishema’s asylum application has no bearing on the court proceedings in South Africa and that more charges will be added when he next appears in court in August.
He remains in custody.
About 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in Rwanda by ethnic Hutu extremists in 100 days in 1994.