The following is a statement from Dr. Michael Gressman of the German Federal Ministry of Justice to War Crimes on the arrest of the two FDLR leaders in late November:
German Federal Police arrested Dr Ignace M. and Straton M. upon orders of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office in Germany on Wednesday, 17 November 2009, on suspicion of committing crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The persons charged are under strong suspicion of having committed both crimes against humanity and war crimes as members of the foreign terrorist organization “Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda” (FDLR), thus rendering themselves liable to prosecution; Dr Ignace M. is also suspected of being ringleader of the terrorist organization.
According to investigations so far, the persons charged exerted, in their capacity as the most senior commanders of the FDLR, decisive influence on the conduct of the civil war in the provinces affected up until their arrest today. They could, therefore, have prevented the systematic commission by militiamen under their orders of acts of violence against the civilian population that is part of the organization’s strategy. This places them under strong suspicion of being responsible as military commanders for the crimes committed by the FDLR.
The investigations increased the body of evidence to such a degree that the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office found itself in a position to affirm the strong suspicion of a criminal act necessary for the issue of an arrest warrant. The pretrial judge of the Federal Court of Justice concurred in this view and on 16 November issued a warrant for the arrest of the persons charged.The persons charged were brought before the pretrial judge of the Federal Court of Justice on 17 November. The pretrial judge of the FCJ read out both arrest warrants to the persons charged and ordered them to be remanded in custody pending trial. The Federal Criminal Police Office is charged with carrying out further investigations.
It appears that Germany intends to try Murwanashyaka and Musoni in German Federal Court for Crimes Against Humanity with War Crimes charges likely to follow. Dr. Gressman indicated that he could not provide any further information because these are “pending criminal investigation proceedings”.
